The Wasteland Warrior: Genesis
by Raven Darthvana
Summary: The story of an exceptional young woman raised in a vault, learning to exist in a violent wasteland and how she helps change her world. Violence is inherent, some mild sexual content. Many game play spoilers but not consistently true to the game.


Wasteland Warrior: Genesis

Chapter 1

The young girl sprang up from her bed as her door flew open. "Hurry Sally," her best friend cried. "The Purge has started! Dad's targeted you, they'll kill you if they find you. You're Dad's gone. Jonas is already dead!" They had killed her father's assistant! "What do you mean Dad's gone? Is he dead too?", she yelled, grabbing Amata. "No!No! He's left the vault! That's what started it. Dad's so angry, he's purging everyone against him!"

"What do you mean he's left the vault? Without me?" She stared at Amata in disbelief. No one left the vault. They were born here, they died here. Of course she and Amata both had known there was a way to leave, ever since they had cracked into the Overseer's computer a few months ago. The Overseer happened to be Amata's Dad. "You'll have to go too. It's the only way. If you stay here Dad will have you killed", Amata cried, tears streaming down her face.

Sally could hear the shouts and screams coming from the hall. "You need to get out of here", she said to Amata, grabbing a Vault 101 uniform and struggling into it. "If they find you with me they could kill you to." "No one's going to hurt me. I'm the Overseers daughter. Here, take this, you'll need it to get out. Dad kept it in a drawer. "

"Thanks. I won't use it unless I have to." Sally took the pistol held out to her. A 10mm. Well, it was better than the BB gun, which was all she owned. "Now get away from me, it isn't safe." Amata nodded. "I'll meet you outside Dad's office." The girls knew the only way out of the vault was through the Overseer's office, if Sally could make it that far. She quickly scanned the room, taking anything that might be of use. Her BB gun, given to her by her father when she was 10. A baseball bat, it would make a useful weapon anyway. The meds from the safety kit. Everything went in the pack her Dad had given her.

She slipped into the hall. So far so good, the sounds of the Purge were further away. It was being disguised as a police action against the large mutant roaches that were now loose in the vault, but Sally wasn't fooled. A number of the Overseer's enemies would be dead by the time the roaches were under control, and she was one of them. Not that she had ever done anything, except maybe be a little defiant, it was her father he had the grudge against.

It was a good thing, she thought, that she had been ostracized by the others in the vault. With only Amata for a friend, she had had a lot of time to train with the Master of Arms, something she truly enjoyed. Now she was probably the best shot and most proficient at self defense of anyone in the vault.

Sally knew every twist and turn of the vault's corridors, every room and what it contained. Okay, so she had been a thorn in everyone's side, always going where she shouldn't, sneaking into unauthorized areas. She had always intended to leave the vault someday anyway. The information and training she had worked so hard to achieve could save her life now.

She rounded a corner to come face to face with the leader of the Tunnel Snakes, that band of young punks forever picking on her. "Help me," he cried. "My Mom's in her room being attacked by roaches. Save her!" Sally didn't bother to show her contempt for the coward, who always acted so tough. She ran to his room, bursting in the door, and quickly dispatched the roaches. The old lady was still alive, thank goodness.

Butch was bursting with gratitude. "Here", he said, holding out his jacket. "Take it. It isn't much but it's all I have to give you. You're my best friend!" This from the boy that had given her the ugly scar running down her right leg! She slipped on the jacket and ran for the medical room. If she was going outside, she would need all the help she could get.

Sally quickly moved down the hallway, slipping into the diner. The old lady was dead, whether killed by the roaches or the guards, she wasn't sure. The Overseer had not been fond of her. She peered around the door. A guard was in the hall, heading the other way. She stayed hidden, peering out until the guard was far enough away. Crouching, she slipped out and into another open doorway. She could hear voices in the hallway, then the sound of gunfire. Looking out, she saw the bodies of two more vault residents lying in the hall. It was driven home how much danger she was in. Her adrenalin flowing, she slipped down the hall toward her Dad's clinic.

She could see the assistant and the clinic robot outside in the hall, killing radroaches. A guard was helping them. She started to back off, but the guard spotted her, and came toward her. She drew her pistol. She really didn't want to kill anyone and he didn't have his weapon up. "Girl," Office Gomez said. "We've been ordered to kill you on site. Officer Mack's gone crazy, he's killing people, you're lucky I saw you first. I always liked you. You better get out of here." He took off down the hall. She had always liked him too.

Sally went in to the clinic where the assistant was now trying to repair his Mr. Handy robot, his back to her. She looted the clinic of all easily available meds, taking her Dad's favorite Bobble head as well. The assistant intentionally ignored her as she hurried back out into the hall and headed for the Atrium. She had chosen to become a medical doctor when she had turned sixteen and had trained with him for the last three years. He liked the lively girl. He didn't want to get her killed and knew she would need the supplies.

As she hurried out she nearly stumbled over a body on the floor. Jonas! Her dad's best friend and cohort. He had always been so nice to her, she liked Jonas. She knelt beside the body, stifling a sob. She didn't have time for emotion; she was in grave danger herself. A holo tape lay beside the outstretched hands, as though he had been holding it when he was gunned down. She snatched it up and stuffed it in a pocket. She couldn't bring herself to search the body of her friend.

She approached the office warily, utilizing all the skills she had learned. A guard in the hall spotted her and came toward her, baton raised. The pistol was out, but she hesitated. She had never shot anyone before. The guard hit her with the baton. Shocked into defending herself she fired again and again until the guard fell. He was still moaning, so she didn't think she'd killed him. She grabbed the baton and hurried down the hall. The flickering of the fluorescent lighting cast an eerie glow over the empty hallway, the distant sound of shouts and gunfire spurring her on.

Voices caught her attention. She sneaked up close to the Overseer's office and listened. The Overseer was interrogating his own daughter! "Where is she?" , he asked. "Just tell me where she is and this will be over." "Dad", Amata's voice was desperate. "She hasn't done anything. She's my friend! Just let her go!"

Nearly out of bullets, Sally put the pistol away and drew her baseball bat before going around the door to help her friend. A guard looked surprised to see her, but quickly recovered, coming toward her with baton raised. She didn't hesitate this time. He fell, unconscious, even as the other guard in the room, who had been standing by the Overseer, headed toward her. "You're going to die now, girl", he snarled. She recognized the head guard, a cruel man, the man in charge of the purge.

"Not today", she replied. She dropped the bat and jerked out the pistol. High on adrenaline and energized by fear she fired, two, three times. In his over confidence he hadn't realized she was armed. She was pretty sure he was dead. She hoped so, she was sure he was responsible for the residents lying dead in the vault. She stepped over his body to confront the Overseer.

"You going to kill me too, girl?" the deep voice asked. She covered the Overseer with her pistol. "Not unless I have to. Call off your guards." "How long do you think you can keep them at bay? I'll never give you the code to the exit. You can't hold me hostage forever."

"Please, Sally, don't kill my father." Amata's voice was pleading. "Please, father, just open the exit for her." "I knew I was right about her" he said coldly. "She's just like her father. We trusted him, and look what happened. He left to go outside, taking his knowledge of this vault and leaving his whelp behind. She shouldn't be allowed to live. I'll never let her out."

"You don't have to." Sally reached out and typed the code into the console. The console slid aside to reveal a secret tunnel. "Come with me, Amata,", she pleaded, looking at the scared girl, but she shook her head. "You'll never make it out", the Overseer shouted after her as she ran into the tunnel.

It was a good thing Amata had spent all those hours secretly cracking into the computers. She had been great with computers and had taught Sally a few hacking tricks, but what had really paid off now was she had given Sally the password to the passage. Sally fervently hoped the Overseer never found out.

She moved quietly and cautiously now. The guards were all alerted, caution was more important than speed. She got through the tunnels and underground works without much difficulty. A guard was nervously pacing the area in front of the vault entrance. She watched him, moving carefully as he moved, slipping up behind him.

"Don't move", her tight voice, backed up by the feel of a muzzle on the back of his neck, caused the guard to go motionless. "Hand back your baton." He slowly handed the baton behind him and felt her take it. He wasn't going to push his luck, he had heard how she had already dispatched several of the vault enforcement. "I'm not supposed to let you out", he managed. He was young, and had never seen combat, but he was trying to be brave. "Where are the controls?" she asked. "Over there", he motioned to a box on a pedestal. "Then just tell them I knocked you out", she said and swung the baton against his head.

Amata appeared on the stairs behind her as the big vault door slid in and rolled silently to the side. "You did it!", Amata said, awed. "You opened the Vault! I wasn't even sure it was possible." "Amata,", Sally cried. "Come with me. We can do it. We can make it in the Wasteland together." "No", she said determinedly. "I have to stay. I'm the only one who may be able to talk some sense into my father. I just wanted to say goodbye." Sally hugged her friend and stepped through.

The vault door clanged shut behind her. It had been tough getting out for a novice warrior, but she had managed. She moved down the short passage toward the old wood door at the end. Light barely filtered through the steel mesh and glass window, still intact though crusted with ages of dust and grime. Just enough light to make out the skeletons on the floor. She shuddered as she stepped over them. What was she going to do? A vault girl of 19, with no wasteland experience, how was she going to manage?

She didn't have much to start a new life. She shoved at the door and it creaked open. She stepped out into the wasteland.

Sally stared at the vast cold darkness of a late autumn night. The high vault of the sky twinkled with thousands of lights. The bright orb of the moon shown down, highlighting the path below her. She felt very tiny, frightened and exposed in all this expanse. She moved forward slowly and stared down. She had never been this cold or alone.

The path lead to a broken road, large slabs of dark material broken by shimmering puddles of reflected moonlight. A broken twisted rail ran along parts of the road. Off in the distance she could just make out some tall spires against the dark sky. It didn't look anything like the pictures she had seen in the vault.

Shocked and dazed by the unaccustomed violence, frightened by the vastness and strangeness, Sally strode numbly down the path leading away from the vault that had been her home.

"Well, what have we here?" a rough voice said. A big man came out from behind a large group of boulders. A smaller man slunk behind him. "I believe it's a girl," the smaller one sniggered. "And all alone too."

Sally felt a stab of fear as the disgustingly dirty gross males approached her. "Can you help me?" she asked pleadingly. "Sure, Babe", the big guy said. "Get her," he said to the smaller man as Sally broke and tried to run. He grabbed her, laughing hoarsely. Ripping her pack from her shoulders he jerked her arms behind her, holding her fast. The older, bigger male grinned at her. "Oh yeah, we're gonna have some fun with this one,", he grinned, jerking at his crotch with one hand, as he stepped in close to her. The stench made her gag.

"Aren't you the pretty one?" he asked, taking her face in one grimy hand and turning it from side to side, taking in the flawless ivory skin, splash of freckles, the red gold hair swinging softly. "Don't you think she's too pretty? She don't belong here. I think we can fix that", he grinned evilly, pulling a large knife from his belt. He slowly carved a long cut from eye to mouth. Sally glared, flinching at the pain. He moved into her, lowering his head towards her. The feel of his mouth on hers, the pain, the smell, the fear, suddenly exploded inside her. The anger in her belly took over.

Suddenly her training kicked in and she reacted. She brought up a knee as hard as she could into the man's groin. Even as he doubled over in pain, moving back from her, she shoved back against the man holding her fast, using him as leverage to kick the knife from the big man's hand. Surprised, the younger released his grip, letting her fall. She hit the ground, rolling into a crouch. She dove for the knife, turning up as the big man rushed her. The knife swung up, slicing into his gut. He collapsed with a single cry. Whipping to her feet she sprung at the young man, frozen for an instant too long in his shock. She grabbed his head and sliced the knife cleanly across his throat, holding him upright for a moment before releasing him to fall to the ground.

Sally stood looking at the dead men as the red haze of fury and fear in her brain faded and her senses seemed to return to her. She had done that. With her own hands! The extensive training under the arms master, the explosion of anger, had allowed her to react without hesitation or thought of consequences. She was breathing rapidly, more from fear and adrenaline than exertion. Blood trickled down her face falling from her chin to mix with the blood covering her vault uniform, her hands, the big knife she was still holding. It suddenly hit her what she had done. The dead guard, the dead wastelanders. She started shaking, staring at the knife and then bent over and vomited violently.

She sat for a long time staring at the men. A resolve was growing in her, the resolve to live, to do whatever she needed in this violent land to stay alive. She rose and went to examine the dead men. They wouldn't need anything they had now and she needed anything she could get. Hesitantly she knelt to check the bodies, recoiling at the metallic scent of blood, the rank smell of filth and offal. She forced herself to go through their pockets and packs, taking everything that might be of value.

Sally didn't know much about the wasteland, but one thing she felt intuitively. The scent of blood would attract predators. She wiped off the knife and used the dry vegetation to scrub off as much blood as possible. Shouldering her now heavier pack she headed down the road looking for some source of water to cleanse away the scent. The single bottle of purified water she had found in the vault was too valuable to use for cleansing.

No ready source of water was in the offing, but the road led into a blasted village. She looked around curiously at the burnt timbers of mostly destroyed buildings, startled when a flying robot whizzed past, blaring a canned message. She stared after it for a moment.

She became aware that the night wasn't really silent. There was a low thrumming of sound, of small life in the wasteland. She listened for a while, deciding it must be insects that had survived the holocaust, almost unchanged. The slight breeze was pretty chilly, her soiled suit not offering enough protection from the cold night.

Pushing her discomfort aside she began exploring all the buildings, all possible receptacles where anything of value might be found. She found some grenades, which was great, a few bobby pins, some other useful items. Still, she needed water. She was going to have to find a source soon. She stopped for a moment to stare at a decrepit rocket, leaning on rusted beams. Whatever had that been for? She shrugged and examined a blasted vehicle.

So much to see, so much to learn about. Suddenly her Pip-boy lit up with the information 'Springvale'. What? Oh, somehow it had divined her location? This was, or rather used to be, a town called 'Springvale'? That would explain the big building she had seen with the inscription 'Springvale School'. It was very imposing and frightening looking in the dark, she wasn't going anywhere near it.

How interesting. It must be using some form of GPS signals to keep track of her location. That meant some satellites must have survived the war. It had been 200 years since the nuclear holocaust, if she remembered her lessons correctly. This area had once been a center of political activity, it had been heavily hit. Now it was a big, decimated wasteland. Yet it somehow didn't seem as foreign to her as she would have expected.

The Pip-boy was a device she had worn on her wrist since her 10th birthday. It was standard Vault procedure to issue one to each child on their 10th birthday. It was a wrist computer and monitor with a number of varied functions. She had often wondered why such a thing should be required in the Vaults, but now she was glad for it. It was programmed to her bio-signs, and could never be removed without destroying it, except by a master programmer. She was going to have to play with her Pip-boy, what other functions might it be capable of she hadn't been aware of?

The lone house that appeared to be intact might hold some water. Sally approached it carefully, her violent introduction to the wasteland making her wary. She had been searching buildings for a good part of the night, using the flashlight feature on her Pip-boy. She had managed to accumulate a few more items. Her face had quit bleeding now but it still hurt like hell, and should be cleaned. She had been training to be a medical doctor in the vault and was concerned about the likelihood of infection from the dirty knife, but there didn't seem to be anything she could do about it right now so she shoved the thought aside.

Sally pushed open the door slowly and walked into the room, expecting another abandoned building. "Who the hell are you and what do you want?" The voice made her jump. Damn. She should be more aware. What if the person had attacked her instead? "My name is Sally. I thought this building would be empty. I just need some water to clean up a bit", Sally said.

The blonde woman regarded her, not encouraged by her bloody state. "Over here," she said warily, pointing at a sink. She handed her a cloth, never taking her eyes off her, the pistol ready. "My name's Silver. I thought that bastard Moriarity sent you after me." "Why would you think that?" Sally asked curiously, slowly wiping the cut on her face, wincing slightly at the pain. "Who's this Moriarity?" "He owns the bar in Megaton. He says I stole from him. He cheated me and kept me enslaved for 6 yrs. I only took what was mine and ran, but he wants me back." "Oh", Sally said.

"You know, if you're going to Megaton, you could help me out. Tell that bastard I'm dead." Sally considered. The woman had been kind enough to help her out, but she didn't like what she'd heard. "Do you have any caps?", she asked. The woman regarded her warily. "Enough to get by." "Then why are you still here? Isn't Megaton close by?" "Well, yeah, I haven't given any thought farther than hiding out." "Well, I suggest you get the hell out of here. If I'm gonna tell him you're dead, do you think he'll take my word for it? He'll probably send someone to check it out." "I see what you mean", Silver said slowly. "Yeah, you're right. I'm outa here at first light."

"Hmmm I think we better think this through a bit further. I expect there's plenty of predators in this area, right? Look, I left a guy up the road there, don't worry, he's dead, but he's a small guy, about your size I think. Before you leave drag him down here and leave him in the house. Oh, and make sure you leave some of your hairs around and leave the door open so things can get at him. Might be best to leave his head up there though, it shouldn't be too hard to finish taking it off, I cut it through most of the way I think. Once animals have been at it for a week or two I don't think anyone's gonna look close enough to tell it isn't a woman, do you?"

Silver gaped at her, horrified. "Do you think that's necessary, really?", she asked. Sally shrugged."Tell you what, for 300 caps I'll help you set it up." Silver thought about that. "Fine, let's get started."

It was harder to remove the head than Sally thought it would be, but they managed to complete the task and have the body stripped, dressed in one of Silver's dresses, and left just inside the front door within a couple of hours. They left the man's clothes with his head behind some rocks.

"Do you want to stay here the rest of the night?", Silver asked, handing Sally 300 caps. "Thanks, it's just a couple hours, so I guess I'll try to get some rest. I need to get to Megaton. I'm looking for my father."

Sally didn't get much sleep though, she was too wary of this strange land and strange woman, and the body she had made dead resting in the living room kind of freaked her out. She said good bye and left Silver getting ready to leave, just as the predawn was starting to lighten the sky.

Chapter 2

Sally sighed tiredly, sitting briefly in the last blasted building on the road. The sun was just rising, and she had never seen a sunrise before. She watched in wonder as the color slowly seeped into the land, turning the horizon pink and then bright. The high blue sky above was liberally sprinkled with soft fluffy clouds. The brilliant sun shone down, heating her through. She had never seen anything so wonderful. Just for the moment she felt like soaring.

Leaving the destroyed village she followed the signs that said 'Megaton'. There had been mention of the junk city in the Overseer's computer, along with other information on the wasteland. That's how she had known you could leave the vault, and that most surface water was irradiated. The Overseer had sent out scouts and she had read those reports, without authorization of course.

There was something up ahead, she could barely discern an outline against the skyline. She moved more cautiously now, her violent introduction to the wasteland making her wary. She approached the conglomeration slowly, assessing the big robot that appeared to be guarding an entrance. She couldn't stay out here in the wasteland, maybe it would be all right if she approached without weapons drawn.

She was startled by a voice coming from a group of rocks. "Could you spare some purified water?". She looked around and spotted a dirty man sitting amongst the boulders. "Hey," she said. "You need water? Don't they have water in Megaton?" He nodded in greeting. "Yeah", he said. "But they only give it to residents or people who can pay. " "Oh, will any water do?", she asked, not anxious to part with her only bottle of purified water. "I've been drinking that irradiated shit. I can't handle it anymore, I just throw it back up." She sighed, handing him her purified water. His eyes got big. "Really? I can just have it? I don't have anything to give you." "You can just have it, stranger," she said turning away. "My name's Micky" he called after her. "Bless you."

She approached the robot obviously guarding the city. "Greetings," the robot said. "Enjoy your stay in Megaton."

She watched, entranced, as humongous rectangular shaped pieces of metal swung up and out, revealing a metal door. Sally walked past and into the town. She stood at the top of the path and gazed around at the town. It appeared to be made out of scrap sheet metal and metal pipes and giant beams, pieces of scrap and junk all cobbled together into a multi-layer town built around the sides of a large cauldron.

Looking down at the end of the path she could see a nuclear bomb, head down in the center of the cauldron, surrounded by a large puddle of water. The early morning light glinted off it as several people mingled about it. _Wow,_ she thought, _this is really strange_. There didn't seem to be anyone else about, so she took the downward path.

At the bottom was a small café, not more than 20 feet from the bomb. A sign over the outdoor bar said The Brass Tavern. The food smelled great and she realized it had been several hours since she had eaten. "Hey," she said politely to the woman behind the counter. "Hey" the woman answered, showing no curiosity for Sally's bloody and dirty state. "What can I get for you?" Sally made her selections. While she was eating, she asked, "Is there someplace I can clean up? And maybe do some trading?"

She decided to ignore the bomb since she didn't know the local customs and the woman didn't mention it, but she did stare briefly at the two-headed beast tied to a post. So post-war mutations were real after all, and not something her teacher had made up to scare them from wanting to go outside.

The woman pointed past the huge bomb lying in the middle of the town. "The community bathrooms are up there, feel free to use them. There's the general store up that way, and the bar further on up. If you're looking for a place to stay you can check with Nova in the bar, she might have something. If you're looking for information try the sheriff. He knows most of what goes on in this town." Sally thanked her, paid for her meal, and headed toward the bathroom.

Sally slipped back into her wet suit. It had taken quite a while to get most of the dried blood out, but she and the suit smelled a lot better now. She pulled the pack over her shoulders. It was time to find the Sheriff. That was just the man she wanted to talk to.

"Hey, Sheriff," she hailed the tall dark man wearing a sheriff's badge. The man turned to look at her. He took in the woman, a teenager really, average height, pretty if not beautiful, but there was something more about her that tweaked his interest. It wasn't just the wet, stained suit he recognized as coming from the nearby vault, or the heavy pack she was carrying with such ease, or even the unhealed cut marring her otherwise nice features. Something in the stance and eyes told him this would be someone to reckon with.

"What can I do for you?", he asked. "If you're looking for the clinic, it's over there". He motioned toward a building close to the entrance. Sally touched her cheek briefly. It seemed to be healing and she didn't want to spend her caps but she saw no reason to share this with the sheriff. "No, I'm OK. My name's Sally Weston. I'm looking for my father, Dr James Weston. He may have come through here. Have you heard of him?"

The sheriff squinted an eye. "I don't think so but you should ask around town. I don't meet everyone who comes through. Try the bar, most people stop by there. " "Thank you," Sally said. "I'm looking for some work, and a place to stay. Do you have any suggestions?"

The sheriff frowned at the woman. He was pretty sure she had come from the nearby vault, and those kids were pretty well educated. "I do have a job but I don't know if you can handle it. See that big bomb in the middle of town?" _Like anyone could miss it_, Sally thought, but just nodded. "It's live. Someday it'll blow this town to smithereens. I need someone to disarm it. If you can do that, I'll give you 100 caps."

"Hmmm, Ok, that's not something you can just walk up and do. Let me study it awhile, then I'll get back to you." The sheriff nodded. "The sooner the better. See that cult down there?" he nodded toward some people in the small pond the bomb was sitting in. "I think they're planning on blowing it." "Why would they do that?", she asked, surprised. The sheriff shrugged. "It's their creed. You'd better not let them know you're planning on disarming it. They might just go ahead and do it."

Sally thanked the sheriff and headed off to the bar to talk to the owner. If the bomb was standard, and it probably was, it shouldn't be a big deal. She had been quite good in science and math, but she would have to look at the bomb before she could be sure it could be done safely.

She entered the bar, looking around curiously. This was another new experience for her. The men looked rough and the man at the bar appeared to be a ghoul. Sally schooled her face to try to show no expression. It was a skill she had tried to perfect in the Vault, with variable success. She had never seen a ghoul before, but she knew of many of the wasteland creatures and beings from her classes and unauthorized hacking into the computers, although mostly it was Amata that did that for them. She ignored the average looking man and woman in the bar and approached the ghoul.

He was pounding on a radio that was spewing static into the air. "You know that isn't gonna do any good", a red haired woman was saying. "It's not the radio. The station has quit broadcasting." The ghoul glowered at the radio and then looked up as Sally approached. She tried not to stare but it was hard considering the man appeared to be mostly a rotting corpse. Bone stuck out here and there, a few hairs still stuck to the scalp. The blank white eyes fixed on her. "What's wrong with you?", he growled. "Never seen a ghoul before?" "Um, no, not really," Sally replied cautiously.

"Oh", the ghoul said, taken aback. He grinned, hardly an improvement. "The name's Gob. What can I do for you?", he asked in a pleasanter tone. "You looking for a drink?" Sally shook her head, immediately regretting the motion as pain shot through her cheek. She stepped forward and sniffed experimentally. He looked like a rotting corpse, but he had little smell, just a musty scent that wasn't unpleasant. He smelled better than the unwashed humans she had disposed of a few short hours ago. She moved closer. "I'm looking for someone, my father, Dr. James Weston. Has a middle aged man come through here recently?"

The ghoul and the red head exchanged glances. "I do remember someone like that coming in, but you'll hafta ask Moriarity about him. He'd kill me if he found out I was giving out information." The red head nodded. Sally sighed. "Do you know where he is?", she asked, realizing there wouldn't be any use badgering these two. "He's in back, we'll let him know you're asking for him", the red head said and got up.

The big blonde man that came out looked rough and roguish, qualities not endearing him to Sally. She asked about her father. "Sure, I know Dr. Weston. I know where he went too. So you're his little girl, all grown up. Well let me tell you, I don't give away information. You want to know where you're Dad went, it'll cost you 100 caps."

Sally told him she didn't have 100 caps. "Come back when you can pay", Moriarity said and walked off. Sally frowned after him. She had been warned not to trust this creep and from what she had observed she didn't think she was going to give him any caps anyway. He would probably just cheat her. She hadn't mentioned Silver, but then the subject hadn't come up. What was she supposed to do, just say, hey, a woman in Springvale asked me to tell you she was dead?

Sally looked around the bar. She really needed to make some caps. The man in the corner was motioning to her. Sally went over. "Hey", she said. He replied, "Hey. I heard you're looking to make some caps." "That's right." "I have a job you could do. You know that bomb in the middle of the town?" _Again?_ She thought. _How can you miss it?_ "I noticed it", she answered warily.

"I want that bomb to go off and destroy this shit hole of a town. Are you interested?" Sally considered. "Depends. What are you paying, how do I do it without getting killed , and what are you paying?" He grinned at the emphasis on caps.

"I have a primer. You just put it in place, set the timer, and get the hell out. Make your way to Tenpenny tower after it blows and ask for me. The name's Burke. You'll be paid well." "If it's that easy, why don't you do it yourself?", she asked suspiciously. "The sheriff has me under observation at all times. For some reason he doesn't trust me. I heard you say you were Dr. Weston's daughter, so you do know how to do this, right?" , he answered drily. She snorted. "Yeah, no problem. I'll take care of it." Sally took the primer and left the bar.

She hadn't got any answers about her father in the bar. She did have a way of getting some caps now, but this was going to require some thought. Blow up the town and get paid, or save the town and get paid? Not that she had any serious thoughts about blowing up all these people, but this was interesting and required more consideration. Still, she was worried the guy in the bar would high tail it out of town since she had accepted his deal, so maybe she'd better let the sheriff know and think about the reasons later.

Sally went looking for the sheriff. "Hey, sheriff,", she called, spying him down at the end of the exit ramp. He turned and smiled. "Hey, Sally, did you disarm that bomb yet?", he asked. "Yeah, well that's what I wanted to see you about. I need more information before I do that, but I thought I'd better tell you some guy in the bar offered me a big reward to blow it up. He gave me this." She held out the primer Burke had given her. "What?", the sheriff almost shouted in his agitation. "Give me that thing." He snatched it like he was afraid it was going to set off the bomb in her hand.

"Come with me", he said, turning on his heel and heading toward the bar at a trot. "I'll show you some wasteland justice." Sally had to run to keep up with him.

When they entered the bar the patrons immediately smelled trouble. Jericho rose from his corner and vacated the bar, followed closely by other patrons. The sheriff confronted Burke. "What is this I hear about you trying to hire someone to blow up my town?", the sheriff asked. "Why, sheriff, I don't know what you mean", Mr. Burke said calmly. "Someone must be giving you erroneous information."

He didn't even look at Sally, who moved to the side, flanking the suave man. "That may be", the sheriff responded. "But let's just go on over to the jail and sort this out. We don't want any trouble here." "Of course, sheriff, lead the way." Mr. Burke motioned toward the door. The sheriff turned to walk out the door.

Sally screamed, "Watch out" as she saw the gun whip out of Burke's pocket. Then everything happened at once. Sally lifted her own handgun and fired point blank at Burke, the sheriff spun around, and Burke fired. With a scream he whirled to shoot at Sally, and she fired again and again until he fell face down on the floor. She hurried over, kicking his gun across the floor before leaning over to check his pulse. He was dead.

Sally walked over to the sheriff, who was sitting up holding a bleeding arm. "What did I do that for?", he asked dazedly. "You never turn your back on someone like Burke. Is he dead?" "Yeah." "That's good. You don't want to leave someone like that alive, he'd make a bad enemy."

"Hey, Sally," Moriarity called from where he was leaning on the bar smoking a cigarette. "Would you get him out of here? He's bleeding all over the floor."

Sally snorted and went over to check out Burke. She found some caps and ammo but that was all. She picked up his gun, a silenced 10mm, and stuck it in her pocket.

The sheriff had gotten to his feet and was watching her. Without a word they walked out of the bar together. Moriarity could clean up the mess.

Moriarity motioned for Gob to clean up the mess and dispose of the body. He had almost made a mistake. He wasn't going to consider trying to enslave the girl now. After all, he had to sleep sometime. If she could do that after such a short time out of the vault, what wasn't she capable of? Unlike Burke, he wasn't going to underestimate her.

Sally walked with the sheriff to Doc's clinic to get his wound tended. He was quiet the whole way. Sally wondered if he was worrying about his mistake, or about Burke, or about the bomb. Whoever had sent him might try again. She needed to disarm that bomb, but she couldn't do it without the right information, it was too risky. She left him at the clinic and went to look for the store to trade off some loot. She hoped to get a nice rifle.

It wasn't hard to find the only store in town. Sally pushed open the door and stepped into Craterside Supply. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but it wasn't the small woman casually sweeping the floor in front of the counter. She didn't look tough enough to run a business.

"You're new in town, aren't you?", asked the woman in a voice so sickly sweet and cheerful Sally thought she might vomit again. "I'm Moira, the owner of Craterside Supply." _Really_, Sally thought sarcastically. _I thought maybe you were the maid. _Sally smiled. "Hey, Moira, pleased to meet you", she responded politely. "I understand you might have some work."

Moira looked her over, considering. "Why, yes, I do have a little project going and could use some help. You see, I don't go out into the wasteland. I'm afraid I wouldn't last long out there. On the other hand, you look like someone who can take care of themselves. I'm writing a book on how to survive in the wasteland. I call it The Wasteland Survival Guide. I need someone to do some research for me. If you're willing I'll be happy to pay you, and I'll give you credit in the book too."

"What do you need me to do and how much are you paying?" Sally couldn't afford to be picky.

"I need to know about the dangers out there, how radiation affects the body, how to find food and meds. I'm an inventor, you see, but I can't test my inventions, I need someone to help with that. They'll save lots of lives, I'm sure! Well, I have had some trouble with some of my little projects, and people say such hurtful things to me sometimes, but I'm sure I've got it right this time. How about it? Will you help?" she asked hopefully.

Oh goody. A crackpot, just what she needed. Well, a crackpot that was willing to pay. Okay then. Sally sighed. "Okay, tell me about the first assignment, and I'll see," she responded.

Sally stared at the woman. "Are you serious?", she asked, aghast. "You want me to expose myself to an almost fatal dose of radiation so you can test your new anti-rad medicine on me and see how the body is affected?"

"Well, yes, but I'm sure you'll be all right. Just make sure you make it back here and I'll fix you right up. Promise. It's worth a 100 caps.", Moira said brightly. "I just need a sample of your cheek cells before you go. Just swab the inside of your cheek with this." She held out a swab on a stick.

Sally groaned. She wasn't having any luck getting a job, and the items she had weren't worth much. She was young, strong and healthy. Surely some radiation wouldn't have any long term affects. Then there was that nice puddle just below the store with the bomb in it, nicely radioactive. She'd discovered that when her Pip-boy went off when she approached it.

"Fine, I'll do it," she said, taking the swab and rubbing it on the insides of her cheeks. She handed it to Moria, picked up her pack and left the store.

Sally strolled around in the water, talking to some of the acolytes who didn't seem to mind getting irradiated as they worshipped the bomb. She could easily have attached the primer, she realized. Anyone could do it, it wouldn't take any special skill or knowledge.

She opened the little door on the side of the bomb and checked it out. She decided she couldn't just disarm it. She didn't have enough information; there were several colored wires and she wasn't sure which would be safe to sever. She would have to find out more about the bomb so she didn't set it off. She leaned against it, watching her Pip-boy until the gauge read 602, just into the lethal range. She staggered out of the pond and up the hill. When had it gotten so steep? She could hardly stand when she shoved weakly at the door.

Moira was ecstatic. "Just a minute, hold on a bit, let me finish these measurements." The voice seemed pretty far away. Sally faded in and out. "There we go, this should do it." The voice faded into nothingness.

Sally slowly focused in on the woman above her. "There you are. I knew you'd be all right. Well, there was just a teeny side effect. It seems your DNA might be, um, just a little bit screwed up, but I'm sure it's nothing." Sally scowled at the cheerful voice. Her head hurt like hell and she was sure she was going to vomit again. She wondered vaguely if the sheriff would lock her up if she strangled this woman.

She couldn't help being curious though. "How do you know it affected my DNA?", she asked. "Oh, I checked it against the sample I took before you left. There were just a few itsy bitsy differences.", she said cheerily. "Okay, but how did you know? How did you test it?" "Oh, that." Moira said . "I have a DNA sequencer. A scavenger traded it to me a few months back. He said he got it out of a vault with a lot of that kind of science stuff in it. He was supposed to bring me more, but he's never come back. I expect he ran in to some problems out there." Sally raised her brows, storing this bit of interesting information.

Sally took her pay and accepted the Vault 101 armor that Moira gave her for getting irradiated. She really did seem to feel at least a little bad about scrambling her DNA and since Sally had come from Vault 101, Moira felt she should have it as a sort of recompense.

After trading what items she had, Sally found she still didn't have enough caps to buy a good weapon. She did have a good silenced 10mm pistol though, and now she had some more ammo at least. And she did have some caps, so at least she could eat. She accepted the next assignment to find food and meds in the wasteland by checking out the Super Duper Mart. She could use them anyway.

"Um, Moira, can you show me where the Super Duper Mart is?" she asked, extending her Pip-boy with the map displayed. Moira considered, then touched the map. There it was, marked on her Pip-Boy. And even better, there was an arrow pointing the direction she should go in. She slowly turned in a circle, watching the arrow slowly turning on the map, always pointing to her destination. Wow, she loved this thing! It surely had been designed for this kind of use, not to be stuck away in a vault!

Sally decided to spend the rest of the day exploring the town. She wasn't about to set out on a journey after noon anyway. She wandered up the trails and ramps, past the community bathroom. At least she could clean up some there, and get water from the sink if she was careful. It wasn't exactly clean. She came on a building marked Armory and decided it probably wouldn't be a good idea to try to enter it. She kept on until she came to one marked Waterworks.

Curious, she pushed open the door and walked in. She could see an older man working on something in the back. "Hey", Sally called politely. The man looked up. "Hey, youngster," he responded. He eyed her. "You new in town?" "Yeah, I'm just going around looking for some work. So I can eat, ya know?", she smiled at him.

The old man smiled back. "My names Walter," he said. "What are you called?" "Sally, Sally Weston. My Dad's Dr. James Weston, perhaps you've heard of him?" "No, don't think so," Walter said thoughtfully. "You mentioned work though. What do you know about plumbing?"

"Some," Sally answered truthfully. They had done some studies on it. Some of the classes were devoted to maintenance in the vaults. "Well, I noticed some drop in pressure here," Walter said. "It appears we may have some leaks in some of the pipes. I can't go looking for them, but if you were to find them and fix them I could pay you."

Sally nodded. "What do I fix them with?" she asked. "The stuff you need's over here," he said leading her to a work bench. "Okay, I'll take care of this for you." Sally took a tool box and some of the repair material and left.

It wasn't hard to find the leaks. They were like little fountains spewing into the air, making tiny rainbows in the afternoon sun. Sally stared at one in appreciation. She had never seen a rainbow. She reached out and tried to pass her hand through it, but it disappeared. Of course it was just light, bent to make the lovely colors. She grinned foolishly, then turned to her task of cutting off the water that formed it. She found three leaks in all and headed back to the Waterworks. It was getting dark now and she was tired and hungry.

"Hey, Walter,", she greeted the old man. He grinned at her. "The pressure's back up where it belongs, young lady. You got 'em all. Here you go, 100 caps. I heard you were planning on going out in the Wasteland. If you are, I got a deal for you. I need scrap metal to keep this place repaired. You bring me scrap metal, I'll pay you 10 caps for each piece. You're not gonna find a better deal!"

Sally sat on a stool at The Brass Tavern and slowly chewed on her stick of iguana. It was as good as some of the stuff she had eaten in the vault, if rather strange to her. It was late and the tavern would close soon. At least she had eaten, though she had no place to sleep. There was no way she was staying in Moriarity's bar!

She looked over at the beast tied nearby. It seemed gentle. Smiling goodnight to the woman behind the bar she went over and slowly approached the animal. It didn't seem to care at all when she lay down beside it, its warmth keeping the chill from her. She was soon fast asleep listening to the breathing and rustling of the big animal and the whir of night dwelling insects.

The day dawned bright and warm. Sally rose when the cow stirred and got up, evincing no interest in its sleeping companion. Sally patted it absently and watched the dawn spread its rosy glow over the town.

She needed to go out into the wasteland, but she needed information first. The more prepared she could be the better. She would mine the inhabitants for as much information as she could. She headed for the public bathrooms to take care of business then she would pick up some breakfast at the Brass Tavern. She might as well start her inquiries there.

The bathroom wasn't as bad as it could have been, Sally realized. Someone was making the effort to clean it. She found some Abraxo cleaner on a shelf and scrubbed out the tub before filling it. She had determination and grit and guts and all that stuff and could tolerate dirt and sweat and blood when necessary, but when there was an option she much preferred to be clean. At least she didn't have to pay for the water in the public area. It appeared clean, but it was still a bit radioactive. She would have to keep an eye on her rad levels. Her Pip-boy registered them along with her bio signs.

The day passed quickly. Sally talked to as many residents as she could and garnered a lot of information, some useful, some not so much, but all interesting. She found out about the Enclave and their eye-bots from the crazy fanatic that still believed the President was going to save the world. She learned about the dangerous wildlife outside the gates, what they looked like, what to look out for. She learned about ghouls and mutants, raiders and mercenaries, humans and creatures who had once been human, all dangerous to a person's health. She really didn't want to go out there now, but she knew she was going.

Sally was tired and worried when she finished her dinner and went to lie down beside the cow. She had learned enough about DC to know she wasn't going there until she had earned more caps and experience. There wasn't any hurry anyway, she had no idea where her father was. She would just go about her business and ask wherever fate took her.

The sun had not yet come up when Sally rose and headed for the bathrooms. She bathed as quickly as possible and put on the vault armor Moira had given her. She was going out today. She checked the rad exposure on her Pip-boy to make sure she didn't need to take any rad-away, then drank a small amount of the water to keep herself hydrated.

Sally hesitated on the landing outside the bathroom to watch the sunrise. She loved to watch a new day dawning, the slow spread of color over the roofs and gangplanks, the light coming up over the huge bomb.

She stopped at The Brass Tavern and bought some food and a couple bottles of purified water, consuming a piece of iguana as she strolled up the path to the outside doors, having stuffed the rest in her pack. Tossing a smile at the robot outside the doors, she handed Micky a bottle of purified water, listened patiently to his blessing, and headed out into the wasteland following the arrow indicator on her Pip-boy.

Daytime in the wasteland. It had only taken her a couple of minutes to reach Megaton after leaving Springvale, so she hadn't really experienced the wasteland in bright sunshine. The land was dry, but not completely barren. Plant life and scrubby bushes clung to the dry soil. The skeletons of ancient trees sprinkled the wasteland. The dry dust hung in the still air giving it a slightly hazy look. She was a bit surprised that it wasn't silent, a low buzz of insect life emanated from the scraggly plants, and the cry of a black scavenger bird occasionally split the air. She spent a moment watching one soar overhead, fascinated by the flying creature.

It was getting pretty warm, and the vault armor was heavier than her uniform had been. Her pack was pretty wearing too, even though it wasn't full. She had always been a vibrant, active person, and was very fit, but she suddenly felt she might have a little extra padding on her from soft vault living. She didn't expect to keep that long the way she was starting to sweat. She thought about removing the vault helmet but the feeling of safety it gave her was worth the discomfort.

She was moving warily, with no idea what to expect. Her natural curiosity had always gotten her in trouble. Out here it could get her killed.

The ruins of a building appeared a little ahead. It was off the path but she wasn't in any hurry. Maybe it would have something she could sell. She approached with a little less caution than she should have. She didn't see the man until he spotted her. She suspected he wasn't friendly as soon as he whipped out the big knife.

Sally pulled out her pistol and pointed it at the man. Sensing her hesitation he just laughed. "Whatcha gonna do, little girl?", he taunted. "Shoot me?" He took a step toward her. Sally shot him. Her aim was a little off, hitting him in the left shoulder. With a roar he dove at her, intent on skewing her with the big knife. Sally fired again, this time hitting him in the gut. The man was lying on the ground, whimpering in pain, but Sally didn't have time to worry about him.

The ruckus had drawn a second man from around the building. "Now you're mine," he screamed, taking aim at her with a weapon she didn't take time to identify. She dove for cover in the building as a blast slammed into the ground where she had been. Scrabbling around the less than concealing beam she fired at the second man. And fired and fired until her gun was empty.

Sally leaned against the beam bringing her breathing under control. She was really going to have to do better than this. Panicking probably wasn't the best way to survive out here. She stood up and went to check on the men. The gut shot one wasn't moving much, but he was still whimpering a bit. Sally reloaded her gun and aimed it at his head. She hesitated, steeling herself, and then pulled the trigger. Better than leaving him to the mercy of whatever predators patrolled this area, and she sure wasn't going to nurse him.

She walked over to the next man, gun ready, but he was already dead. She bent over him and checked his armor and went through his pockets. His armor wasn't in as good shape as what she had on, so she took the shotgun and the few caps he had. She checked the shotgun. It was empty and there wasn't any more ammo. She felt a stab of fear as she realized how lucky she had been. If the man had had more ammo, she probably wouldn't be alive.

Having made sure the second man was dead she went back to the first one and checked him for items. He only had a knife to take. She then searched the building quickly, finding nothing of value. With a shrug she checked her Pip-boy and headed toward her goal , leaving the bodies for scavengers to clean up. She walked a little quieter now, scanning the landscape continuously for danger.

Pausing on a group of boulders topping a small hill she looked out over the wasteland. In the distance she could see the remnants of a city, the buildings looking like metal skeletons against the bright blue sky. Between her and the city lay a broken road scattered with rusted and blasted vehicles. This wasn't what she was looking at though.

On the road was a creature, far enough away she couldn't see it clearly, and it didn't see her. She could see that it was large, stood on two legs, and had claws on its hands that could rip open a large beast with a swipe. This must be a Deathclaw, a strong and savage creature that would attack and eat anything. It appeared to be eating something on the road.

Sally had no desire to find out what, or who, the creature was eating. Crouching low, she slowly crept backward until she was hidden by the curve of the hill. She skirted the hill until she felt sure she was well past the creature before checking her Pip-boy and striking out in the direction indicated.

Chapter 3

It was just after noon when Sally spotted the long, low building in the distance. According to her Pip-boy this was her destination. She was approaching it from the rear when she heard a zzztzzt sound and saw a flash of red light. She crouched low and crept forward to peer around the corner. A metal flying robot like she had seen in Springvale was floating away from a body on the ground. The lesson here: don't mess with the flying robots.

She crept up to the body and studied it. It smelled horrifically foul. The scarred torso was mostly bare, the minimal covering bizarre to say the least. The multi-colored hair was short and spiky. A quick, furtive search netted her nothing but the knife lying by the body. She warily surveyed the area. A large sign proclaimed this was the Super Duper Mart. She had reached her goal.

She was looking down the front of the building. A long covered walkway ran the entire length of the front. She could see two sets of doors, with two Nuka-cola machines spaced out against the front wall. In front was a huge broken area with slabs of material here and there, probably once a parking lot, now just bare. The robot, which she remembered was called an Eye-bot by the crazy Enclave fanatic in Megaton, was patrolling the area sending out its canned message enticing anyone listening to join with the President. No one else seemed about, but that didn't make her feel any better. The dead man probably hadn't been alone.

Sally opened the nearest door and crept in as quietly as she could. The small entry room held only old grocery carts and a trash can. Careful to avoid tripping over the carts, she moved into the opening and looked around. Off to her right was a counter, with open space behind it, though she didn't see any entrance to it. No one seemed to be in there.

On her left a clear space ran the width of the building between the doors and short rows of low counters that ran back from the clear space toward the back of the building. These had old cash registers on them and must have been for checking out the merchandise. Another clear space ran behind these counters the width of the building, and then behind them a lot of shelves running deep toward the back of the building. She couldn't see the back part of the building. Carts and debris were everywhere.

A man was patrolling the tops of the shelves, far enough into the interior of the large building she couldn't make him out clearly. It wasn't hard to see he had spiky hair though and carried a rifle. She sure could use a rifle. She couldn't see anyone else but she could hear voices deep in the building, so there were probably several of them.

Crouching low and moving slowly to avoid detection, she crept toward the unsuspecting man. These looked like raiders, drug crazy people who got off on killing and torturing. This impression was confirmed when she observed the mutilated bodies hanging from the ceiling, a trademark of the violent gangs. Vermin to be killed on sight she had been told. She was close enough now to effectively hit the raider. She raised her silenced pistol and took careful aim at the raider's head, but she wasn't absolutely sure who these people were.

"Hey" she called softly, just loud enough for him to hear. He spun around, locating her immediately. He didn't even hesitate; he raised his rifle with a snarl. Sally fired. That was settled then, she wouldn't be giving any more warnings.

The raider looked surprised for about a second and then toppled into the aisle. Sally froze, expecting the noise to alert the others, but no one seemed to notice. She moved up and inspected the foul smelling, bizarre man. He had a few caps, a shotgun in poor repair, but functional, and some ammo. No rifle though.

She holstered her pistol, shoved the caps in her pack, and made sure the shotgun was loaded. It looked like the gun she had taken off the other man she had killed, but she couldn't be sure. She moved quietly down the front aisle toward the other side of the store.

Still crouching and moving slowly and quietly Sally crept down the center aisle toward the other side of the building. She passed another set of doors that led outside, but no one was in the small entrance room. She stopped at the last aisle and peered cautiously around the last row of shelves. Another of the strange men was standing in the aisle, peering toward the back of the store. Sally got out the silenced pistol. If she could get close enough, it would make less noise than the shotgun.

She moved toward the man. Suddenly he caught a sound or movement, something made him turn toward her. With a savage growl he sprang toward her brandishing a large knife. Sally dove aside, receiving a glancing blow to her left arm. She swung the pistol up and fired at him. It hit him in the breast, stopping him just long enough for her take better aim and blow out his brains. Sally scrambled into cover in a doorway in the wall. No one came.

Sally glanced down the short hall behind her. There was a door on each side, labeled for Men and Women. She hoped there was water in the bathrooms, as her arm was bleeding now and she was sure the knife wasn't at all clean. She stayed close to the wall and warily peered into the Women's room before entering. It was empty. She quickly checked all the stalls, noting the mattress lying in the back. They must use it for a sleeping area as well. At least there was water in the sinks, so she stood in front of the sink and started washing the wound.

A sound alerted her that she was not alone. She spun around just as a woman, as strangely bizarre as the men had been, yelled, "You're all mine now bitch", and swung a knife at her gut. Sally dodged but wasn't quick enough to keep the knife from sinking into her abdomen. With a screech she swung up her hands, fisted together, and slammed the woman in the head. She fell back dropping her grip on the knife. As she sprung up again Sally snatched the knife from the floor and swung it up, impaling the woman under the breastbone. She shoved up and twisted. The woman gurgled, blood running from her mouth, spraying Sally with her last breath.

Sally leaned against the sink, holding her bleeding abdomen. She had learned a hard lesson here. Never stand with your back to an open door. She sank down, sliding her pack off her shoulder to rummage inside. She pulled out a powder, ripped it open and sprinkled it in the wound. She almost cried out with the pain, but gritted her teeth against it. The powder was designed to enhance clotting and stop bleeding.

Then she pulled out a Stimpack and injected herself. This med had some healing properties, but its main advantage lay in its ability to stop pain. She breathed easier as the pain eased and then stopped. She was still wounded, but now she could move freely, a distinct advantage in life and death situations. She just hoped it lasted long enough to finish the job, as she only had one left.

Sally heard yelling and the sound of agitated voices in the hallway. Someone had found the bodies and they were searching for her. She pulled herself up and checked the shotgun was loaded. Sneak attacks weren't in the picture any longer.

Sally fought her way through the store, taking out the remaining raiders, cold and methodical as she ran and ducked and weaved from cover to cover, picking them off one at a time. The raiders were huge on ferocity and savagery, but sadly lacking in strategy and intelligence. She finally strolled through the now quiet store, checking bodies, methodically disposing of any left alive.

It seemed safe enough now and she was very tired. The knife wound in her abdomen had stopped bleeding and she couldn't feel the pain from it, but she knew it was deep and she needed rest. Her other wounds were more superficial although the knife wound to her arm had started leaking somewhat. She didn't want to waste a clotting med on it if it would clot on its own.

She drug the raider's body out into the hall before cleaning up in the sink, being careful to stand sideways so she could keep an eye on the door, then lay down on the dirty mattress in the back where she would be less likely to be taken by surprise. She spent a restless night fading in and out of sleep with little real rest.

In the morning she began her real work. She soon had more meds, food, weapons, ammo and disposable items than she could carry. That was all right, she could come back for the rest. A locked room had presented a small problem as she had to crack the computer that controlled the lock.

Perhaps the most important thing Amata had taught her was how to keep from getting locked out of a computer when you didn't know the password. She had to use the trick several times, but finally got it right. Inside the store room she had found a lot of supplies and a robot, locked in a containment unit. She studied the controls until she was sure she could release it but was still considering the wisdom of that when she heard voices in the main store area.

More raiders had entered the store and were trying to figure out what had happened. Sally punched in the code and stood back, shotgun ready if it proved dangerous. The containment unit swung open and the robot stepped out. "Greetings, fellow employee," it said in its monotone voice. Then its attention was caught by the noise outside the room and it moved out. She followed, peaking around the door. She saw the red light, heard the zzztzzt of laser fire, the screams of the raiders, then all was still.

The robot turned toward her. It seemed to have forgotten she had released it because it raised its arm and fired at her. She caught its intention and dove to the side, bringing up her shotgun. A blast to its faceplate finished it off. She looked at it sadly. It would have been nice to have a guardian in the store. Then she searched it and took the energy cells that had animated it. Interestingly she found the wiring to its weapons systems was very similar to that in the bomb. She was pretty sure she had a good idea how to disarm it now.

She found a nice supply of meds. After all these were raiders, they practically lived on chems. Their weapons weren't in the best shape, but she figured they had other things on their minds besides taking care of weapons. Like chems. At least there was an assault rifle, and the other weapons would still be useful so she took them and all the ammo she could find. Perhaps the most interesting items were some books. They had probably already been here, raiders weren't great readers, but at least they hadn't destroyed them. Instructional manuals could come in very useful.

Having loaded her pack with all she could carry and stored the rest in the locked storeroom, she went back to the bathroom. She took the manuals with her to the dirty mattress lying against the back wall. It seemed the safest place to sleep. After perusing the manuals for a while she finally fell asleep using her pack as a pillow. It was cleaner than the mattress.

Her loaded pack heavy on her back Sally stepped outside in the bright morning light to begin the trip back to Megaton. She stopped when she saw the child walking slowly past. He turned to look at her. "Lady", he said. "Can you help us? We need help. The things are killing everyone."

"Things?", Sally queried. "Could you be a little more specific? There seems to be lots of things out here. And who's getting killed? Where?" "Over at Grayditch. That's where I live. I don't know if anyone else is left. I ran and ran and I got out. The creatures, they have 6 legs and antennae and they shoot fire out of their mouths. The professor called them fire ants, but Dad said they were fuckin' ants. I don't know if Dad's still alive.", he said, tears running down his face.

Sally looked at him compassionately, considering. "Listen, kid", she said. "I'm wounded and not very well armed. I can't do this now. I think you should come with me. We'll go check it out after I heal up." "No, I have to go back, see if my Dad's still alive. Please come with me."

"Look, kid, it's not gonna do anyone any good to just get myself killed. I have to go home and get some medical attention." "Okay, but you will come? Soon? I know a place to hide so I can wait for you there after I see if Dad's alive. I know how to avoid them."

Sally sighed. "Sure, kid, as soon as I can." She watched him take off. It was his decision; she couldn't force him to come with her. She wondered how many orphans there were fending for themselves in the wasteland.

She was trudging slowly back toward Megaton. She had always thought herself fit and strong, but right now her muscles were sore from the unaccustomed strain and her abdomen and arm throbbed in spite of the meds she had taken the day before. She didn't want to use any more in case she really needed them later so she would just have to deal with it.

She supposed she'd just have to get used to this kind of discomfort if she was going to pursue this lifestyle, and she didn't see much choice in that. How else could she make a living? Her mind felt dull and her body felt incredibly weary and sluggish. She was lost in gloomy thoughts and wasn't paying proper attention to her surroundings. The skitter skitter sound penetrated her consciousness, causing her to jerk around.

The creature was on her. Fortunately she hadn't put her shotgun in her pack, but before she could raise the weapon the radscorpion struck, its formidable stinger just grazing her shoulder as she ducked. Pain seared through the shoulder, but Sally was barely aware of it.

She blasted the creature, slowing it down, but she wouldn't have time to reload. She whirled and ran. As she ran she pulled a mine from the cavernous pocket of her suit, armed it and tossed it on the path without slowing. She jerked the assault rifle from the scabbard on her back, using her other hand to slam the shotgun into the scabbard.

The blast alerted her that the radscorpion had encountered the mine. She whirled to face the beast. It was moving much more slowly now. She steadied herself and aimed for the face. Hold it, hold it, she told herself, steady, NOW! She blasted it straight in the face with the assault rifle.

Sally stood still, breathing hard from the exertion, feeling the thrill of her escape, watching the radscorpion warily. It didn't move. Finally she went over to it and examined it. The doctor had told her about these creatures. The poison gland was supposed to contain useful ingredients. She slipped off her pack and knelt beside the creature.

It was pretty messy, but she had finally located the gland and cut it out, being careful not to nick it. She had a lunchbox she had picked up in the store, it had some of her food in it, but she emptied it out now to put the dripping glands in. She packed it with dried grasses for good measure. She didn't like the thought of it leaking in her pack. She stuffed the food in the pack also. She didn't have an appetite today and the butchering job hadn't helped that any. She already felt nauseous and was now getting a little dizzy as well.

Having completed the chore she poured a bottle of radiated water over her hands and the knife, cleaning it before replacing it in the pack. She would have to do something about the knife; she didn't like having it in the pack. It was too inaccessible. She had material from armor she had scavenged, and tools she had found. What she didn't have she could borrow from Walter or buy from Moira. She would make a calf holster for the knife, she decided.

Sally trudged into Megaton almost totally exhausted. Her arm throbbed from the scorpion poison, which had gotten into her blood stream and slowed her down. The front of her suit was soaked with blood where the knife wound in her abdomen had broken open from the fight with the creature. She looked up at the clinic.

The doctor wasn't going to be happy to see her but she didn't care. She entered the clinic and dropped her pack on the floor. "What's wrong with you, girl?" he growled unpleasantly. He sure didn't have any kind of bedside manner. She didn't care. She was hurting. "Radscorpion", she muttered, pointing at her shoulder. "Knife." She pointed at her abdomen.

The doctor snorted. "Well get that suit off and let me look if you want me to do anything." She shrugged out of the suit and climbed up on the surgery table. The doctor ran his hands over her, examining each wound. She was burning with fever. "Hmmm, knife wound here, and here, bullet hole, yep, radscorpion hit here. This gut is badly infected and is gonna require some deep cleaning and stitches and some hemostatics. Here," he said suddenly addressing Sally, holding out a small bottle of foul smelling liquid. "Take this. It's an anti-venom, should help with that poisoning. It'd wear off eventually on its own, but I don't want to wait for that as sick as you are. We're gonna hafta bring down that fever too."

Sally grimaced and drank it down. The doctor was readying a syringe. "Now hold still a second", he snapped. "This is gonna put you out. I have work to do and I don't think you wanna be awake for it." Sally felt the syringe jab her arm, and then blackness gently surrounded her.

"Hey, girl, you gonna wake up?" The gruff voice penetrated the fog in Sally's brain. She stretched out, yawning, opening her eyes. Oh, yeah, she was in the clinic. She looked up at . "How long was I out?," she asked reasonably. "About 30 hours. Come on, I need my clinic back." "That long?", she asked, surprised. "You were pretty sick. You had a bad infection in that abdominal wound. It's going to leave some pretty nasty scarring behind. You need to take it easy for a few days and give your body a chance to heal up. I think you should know, that scarring is going to be so bad that you're never going to be able to carry a baby."

Sally shrugged, slipping out from under the warm blanket and sitting up, swinging her long legs over the side of the bed. She was alive. She'd deal with the rest later, if it ever came up. Her stained and dirty suit lay on the floor where she had left it. Well, she hadn't expected him to clean it.

She slipped off the table and picked up the suit. "How much do I owe you doc?", she asked. She felt a lot better than she expected she would. "Let's see, stitches, anesthetic, antibiotics, some anti-venom. I didn't give you any healing drugs 'cause you seemed to be healing pretty fast on your own", he said thoughtfully. "I think 300 caps should cover it."

Sally decided against putting on the dirty armor. She didn't need armor inside Megaton. She counted out the caps and pulled a clean vault uniform from the pack. She quickly dressed. "See you later, Doc", she grinned taking her items and heading for the door. "Try not to", he growled back.

Sally went first to the bathrooms to take care of business and wash the armor. It was somewhat the worse for wear but it could be repaired. At least she had a good night's sleep and she didn't even have to pay for a room. The doctor wasn't as unkind as he seemed and she liked the gruff old man. Still if she kept this up she wasn't ever going to be able to buy a sniper rifle. Medical care was expensive, even if she did suspect the doctor had given her a break. She was either going to have to get better or find another way to make a living. She was broke again.

Sally put her armor out on the rail to dry and picked up her pack. She headed toward Craterside Supply, but she had to go past the bomb to get to it. She stopped and waded into the radioactive water. Checking her Pip-boy, she expected the doctor had added a rad-away to the meds he'd given her. Her levels had been near the fatal level, now they were way down.

She opened the compartment and studied the controls. Yes, she was right; there was a similarity with the robot's weapons system. She pulled out her knife and, holding her breath, carefully cut the blue wire, then the white one. Well, it hadn't exploded. She let out her breath and used the knife to gently pry out the detonator. With it safely in her hand, she could be sure the bomb was now unable to go off.

Sally shut the little door on the bomb and turned to leave the pond. The sheriff was standing on the edge, watching her. She silently went over to him and held out the detonator. "Damn, girl, you did it. You disarmed the bomb!", he said quietly, so no one could overhear them. She nodded. He took the detonator and shoved it into a pocket. "Come with me", he said quietly. Sally followed him up a path, away from the group of unsuspecting worshipers standing around the pond.

"How do they keep from dying of radiation poisoning?" she asked curiously. He shrugged. "We regularly dose their drinking water with rad-away. Just enough to keep them going. Still sometimes one of them dies. We do our best." he said.

They stopped at a small house set up high on a hill near the entrance. "You've been a big help to this town, and I'd like you stay.", he said, opening the door with a key. "I think you'll be an asset. Look around. I'm giving you this house. What do you say?"

Sally walked into the house. "Wow", she said. "My own house. And with a Mr. Handy too." The sheriff smiled. "Yeah, he comes with the house. It's a bit sparse, but you can get stuff over at Moira's to fix it up. Oh, and here's the 100 caps I promised you." He held out the caps. Sally took them, smiling. "Thanks. I think I'll do just fine here.", she said, accepting the deed and key he was holding out to her.

After the sheriff left Sally explored her little home. The ground floor consisted of one large room, with one side taken up by a staircase going upstairs. Around and behind the staircase was a small kitchen. It held only a fridge and some shelves, and a sink. At least she had water. The remainder of the room held only two sets of lockers, a small book case, and a pedestal labeled as a bobble-head collection stand. She set her pack down and dug around in it until she found her Dad's bobble-head. It fit perfectly in a space on the stand. She stroked it fondly, then turned to check out the rest of the house.

Going up the stairs she discovered that there was a galley running around the upstairs. To the right off the galley was a small room that held nothing but a set of shelves. The next room proved to be a bedroom. No more sleeping with the cow, she grinned to herself, checking out the bed. The mattress might be old and a little worn but it was clean and comfortable. Besides the bed there was a file cabinet and desk.

Leaving the bedroom she peered over the rail into the lower level. The galley was open with just a rail running around it. In a corner, tucked behind the bedroom was a small sitting area with a table and lamp and a chair. Beyond that was open spaces. Sally twirled around in joy. A home to come back to!

The Mr. Handy appeared at her side. "Can I help you madam?", it asked. "How about a drink, H?", she said happily. "Certainly, Madam, here you go", the stuffy machine said, producing a purified water. Sally laughed, accepting the water.

Sally busied herself unloading her pack of all items she didn't want to carry or sell. At the bottom of the pack she found a holotape. She had forgotten all about it. Jonas had been holding it when he died. She sat down slowly in the only chair and contemplated the tape, letting herself grieve for the man who had held it. She played it back.

Her father's voice spoke to her from the tape, telling her he had to leave the vault, there was something he had to do. She was an adult now, he said, and could take care of herself. He didn't want her to follow him, he wanted her to stay safe in the vault. Hah! Safe in the vault, right, with the Overseer wanting her dead. So Jonas was bringing her Dad's last message when he died. She cried for the brave little man who had always treated her well.

She sat for a long time, remembering the people she had left behind, the ones who had died, thinking of her Dad. Why had he left? Would he be happy to see her if she found him?

At last she stirred and pushed aside thoughts of what was left behind. She had to think of what lay ahead. She completed her task of sorting her items and headed down to the Brass Lantern to grab a bite, taking her pack loaded with the items she wanted to sell. She noticed her armor was still hanging over the rail outside the public bathrooms. She patted the cow on the way past to get her armor. With it safely stowed in her pack she finally went on up to Craterside Supply.

"Hey, Moira.", Sally called as she entered the store. She ignored the big mercenary standing in the corner. He was all business, guarding the store. Too bad, he was a handsome guy and Sally might have enjoyed having a drink with him. Or two or three.

"Sally," Moira squealed delightedly. "You made it back. What did you find? Did you have any trouble?"

"Oh, not much, just a whole building full of vicious, stinking raiders wanting to kill me. And a radscorpion trying to eat me. And a couple other guys who seemed to want me dead for no reason I could fathom. Other than getting shot, stabbed, and stung, I think I did all right."

"Oh, my, are you all right?", Moira squealed.

"Sure, Doc fixed me up. I found the meds and food, and got some old weapons and ammo from the raiders. Not willingly of course I kind of had to kill them first."

Moira laughed. "Well, you've certainly earned your pay. Here you go. Let's just record your observations here." They spent the next hour going over Sally's experiences for recording.

"You ready to tackle the next assignment yet?", Moira asked, closing her recording device.

"Just tell me what it is and I'll get to it as soon as I can."

"Well, I need a land mine to figure out how they work so I can make home- made ones. There's a bunch of them up in Minefield. I guess that's why it's called Minefield. Anyway they're in the playground there from what I hear, but no one wants to go near it because of the ghost."

Sally sighed. This was going to take a while. Finally she managed to get the information she needed from the garrulous Moira.

"Here, just mark the location on the Pip-boy. While you're at it, could you mark the location to Grayditch, too?", Sally asked. "Grayditch?", Moira asked. "Are you going there? I think the traders usually stop there on their route. It should be just about here." She placed the marks on the Pip-boy and beamed at Sally.

Sally wandered on up to the bar. "Hey Gob," she greeted the ghoul, going up to the bar. "That radio's still not working, eh? Got any wine back there?" "Sure, Sally," he grinned. It seemed a little less horrific than the first time she had seen it. He produced a bottle of wine. "That'll be 12 caps." Sally fished out the caps and handed them to him.

"I heard you did a raid out in the wasteland," Gob said. "Eh, just a little jaunt to the Super Duper Mart," Sally replied. Gob stared at her. "Really? I thought that place was full of raiders." "Not now," Sally grinned and picked up her bottle of wine to retreat to the corner table Burke had sat at. Jericho stared at her for a long moment from the next table before going back to his own thoughts.

Sally hadn't really needed to buy wine, she had some from the raid on the Super Duper Mart. But she felt the need for some companionship, and maybe she could pick up some gossip or interesting bits of news. She was still pretty sore and considered healing up for a day or two more before heading out to Grayditch. She could use the time to craft a calf scabbard for her knife and study the manuals she had found.

She sighed to herself, wondering what was happening to her. Only 5 days out of the vault, and already 6 men dead by her hands. She didn't think you could count raiders as human. Maybe she shouldn't count the dead at all. The wasteland was even more dangerous than she had been led to believe.

Moriarity pulled up a chair beside the attractive red-head. "Hey, Sally", he said. "So you've been out in the wasteland. Glad to see you made it back in one piece." "Yeah, I didn't leave to much flesh out there", she grinned. She took a swallow of her wine.

"Whatcha want, Moriarity?",she asked suspiciously, when he didn't say anything else right away. "What makes you think I don't just want the pleasure of your company?", he asked, eyeing her. She just raised an eyebrow, not deigning to reply.

Moriarity shrugged. "You came through Springvale when you left the vault, didn't you?", he asked. "Yeah, what of it?" "Did you check out the houses?", he asked. "Yes, I did, it was night and I was hoping to find a place to hole up till dawn. Why do you want to know?"

"Did you find anyone in any of the houses down there?", he asked. "Well, now", Sally said speculatively. "Maybe, maybe not. What I see and know is my knowledge. And knowledge is worth something, right? I'll tell you for 100 caps." Moriarity glared at her in surprise. "You better not mess with me girl. Just tell me what you know." Sally looked straight at him, her gaze and her voice steady, not betraying the nervousness she felt standing up to this man.

"Are you threatening me, sir? My knowledge is my property, and I don't have to give it to you. You can always pay someone else to go check it out yourself. But I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll trade you even up, knowledge for knowledge. You tell me what you know about my Dad, and I'll tell you what I found in Springvale."

Moriarity considered. "Well, now that seems like a fair trade. All right then. Your Dad was heading in to DC, to see Three Dog at the Galaxy News Radio station. And I'll throw this in as a bonus. I knew your Dad before. You weren't born in the vault, girl, your Dad came through here with you when you were just a bitty thing, to find out where the vault was. He said he was coming from Rivet City."

He smiled to himself at the shock that passed over Sally's face. She was still young and hadn't learned to completely control her reactions, but it passed so quickly he almost missed it. Her face was cold and expressionless when she addressed him.

"Okay, my turn. I only found one house that appeared to be in good enough shape to stay in. It was a mess though. There was a body in the house, at least I think it was one. Little hard to tell, it wasn't completely intact and I had no interest in examining it closely."

"What color was the hair?", Moriarity asked tensely. "I didn't see the head, so it's hard to be sure, but there were blonde hairs scattered around. Like something had pulled them out and tossed them or something. You know, now that I think about it, it kind of looks like the sort of thing raiders would do. They left a mess of bodies in the Super Duper Mart."

"Did you find anything else?", he asked. "No, nothing worth taking." Moriarity nodded grimly. "You take care girl," he said, getting up. "Especially if you're heading into DC. It's no place for inexperienced kids." Sally didn't bother to reply. Picking up her bottle, she left the bar. She hadn't even lied to him, there was a body and blonde hairs. She hadn't said it was female.

Moriarity watched her go with grudging admiration. He had his suspicions she hadn't told him everything she knew, but he was pretty certain she hadn't lied either. It had been a long time since anyone had gotten the better of him. This kid was going to go a long way, if she lived long enough.

Sally had a hard time getting to sleep. She had been born in the wasteland. Her Dad had lied to her! What else had he lied about? Maybe her mother was still alive, hadn't died when she was born? Surely he hadn't lied about that? Or perhaps it was Moriarity that was lying, she had to find out, she thought. The stress of the last few days, the discomfort of her wounds, her loneliness, finally overcame her. Sally cried herself to sleep.

Chapter 4

It took three days and most of her resources to clear Grayditch of the fire ants and rescue the boy. She hadn't expected it to be easy, but it had surpassed her expectations. She almost got herself killed several times. As if clearing the giant, fire-breathing ants from the town hadn't been enough, she had discovered how they originated.

A crazy scientist in the town had gone into the nearby metro station and injected an entire egg brood of the giant ants, formed by other crazy scientists before the war, with a mutagen that had caused them to breathe fire. It hadn't been his intention, but he had been reckless in doing an entire brood before first trying out his experiments on a smaller scale.

This left her with no choice but to go down into the tunnels after him, to see what could be done to stop them. It was hard enough getting through the ones that infested the tunnels until she finally found his impromptu lab, but then she learned she would have to go into the depths of the queen's lair to activate the mutagen machine to cut their ties with the queen, clearing them out by having them kill each other. In order to reach the queen she would first have to kill the much tougher guardians.

Sally sighed, crouching at the entrance to the queen's cave. She had managed to kill the guardians with a combination of tactics and firepower, but now she was out of firepower. She had some 10mm ammo, a single shell for her shotgun, and a sword. She studied the queen, which was about the size of a small bus, and had a habit of spitting green acid. She had discovered this when the queen spotted her, but fortunately she had been quick enough to keep from being glopped, and the queen was too big to leave her chamber.

To top it off, Dr. Lesko didn't want her killed. He had promised her a lab jacket with radiation resistant properties and a med that would increase her fire resistance if she didn't kill the queen. She would get nothing if she did, other than the satisfaction of killing the beast before it bred more fire ants.

The guy was nuts, of course, no doubt about that. When she had questioned his lax scientific efforts, he had agreed he was careless, but simply stated that some deaths were collateral damage. She didn't think so and felt he should have to pay something to clean up his mess.

As if she didn't have enough problems, she spotted the scientist's guardian robot patrolling the chamber, guarding the queen. Well, he hadn't said anything about destroying the robot. She shot at it, missing but drawing its attention. As it clunked into the tunnel, she took aim with her last shotgun shell and blasted it into scrap metal.

Sally peeked around the corner of the chamber, drawing the queen's attention. As soon as the queen stopped at the entrance of the cave and reared back to spit, Sally dove around the corner. The green glop hit the floor beside her. She dove out and popped the queen with the 10mm and dove back. The queen didn't appear to suffer damage though she squealed angrily. More green acid glop hit the floor and Sally repeated the performance several times. She had quite a bit of 10mm ammo, and by the time she ran out the queen was moving slowly, obviously in great distress.

Sally now remained quiet and motionless until the queen gave up and turned to move off. Sally waited until she saw the queen move into the far corner, her head to the wall, then rushed in and activated the machine with the quick push of a button. Even though slow and hurting, the queen still nearly got her as she fled the cavern and plunged up the tunnel.

She found Dr. Lesko waiting for her in his lab. "I've killed the guardians as you requested", she reported. "And all the other ants in the tunnel." "What about the queen? Is she alive?," he asked anxiously. "Yes, I didn't kill her. I activated the mutagen device too, like you said." "Good", he responded. "Here, let me just inject you with this med like I promised." Sally watched curiously as he injected her with the strange med. Yeah, she knew it was going to mess with her DNA again, but she wasn't worried about passing it on to future generations, and it could prove helpful to her in future encounters.

She accepted the lab coat he offered and then headed back down into the tunnels. It was now time to finish off the queen and make sure the rest of the eggs were done for also. The crazy scientist wasn't going to quit.

Sally approached the tunnel cautiously. The queen was resting with its head against the wall, obviously in dire straits. Sally crouched low and sneaked up under the abdomen then with sudden frenzy hacked at the abdomen with a sword. The queen twisted and screamed, trying to turn to get at her, but she stayed out of reach and swung with all her might, until at last the creature fell and didn't get up. After assuring it was dead Sally strode from the chamber and made her way back to the lab.

Dr. Lesko was preparing to go check on his queen. She watched him leave, then looted the lab for food, meds and ammo before heading for the surface. She had earned them.

If it wasn't for the boy, she wouldn't have done it. His father was dead, she had found his body in their house. Not knowing what else to do with the kid she took him back to her home in Megaton. The boy had told her he had a relative in a place called 'Rivet City', a sister to his Dad. The place Moriarity had mentioned her Dad had come from. Maybe she could find the boy's relative and pick up some information on her Dad as well. She would get the sheriff to mark it on her map.

Sally studied the map on her Pip-boy. She wasn't excited about going through the edge of DC to get to Rivet City, but she decided she would have to make the trip. The boy didn't have much of a home here. If she went south past Grayditch and then southeast to a point parallel with Rivet City on her map, she could cut straight across and maybe she could avoid most of the Grayditch and DC hazards. It would take a lot longer, but after all she was a curious person and wanted to know what was out there, and anyway she was low on resources.

She had left most of the food she had taken from the Super Duper Mart and scavenging in Grayditch, enough to keep the boy for a month. She had the sheriff's assurance they would take care of him if she didn't return. She spent most of her caps on ammo and stimpacks. She left early in the morning leaving her only bottle of pure water with Micky.

She headed south but didn't entirely by-pass Grayditch. She moved carefully through the edge of the abandoned city, watching for the giant fire breathing ants. The sound of gunfire caught her attention. She hurried toward the sound as quickly as she could while staying in cover, not anxious to be spotted by potential enemies. She saw the woman firing at the giant ant as she rounded the end of the old bus. She quickly raised her own assault rifle and helped kill the beast.

The woman turned and fled without a word, leaving Sally facing a soldier ant on her own. Sally ran too, but in the opposite direction. Damn! The ant had chosen to chase her! The ants were fierce and persistent, but not especially fast. She sped out into the wasteland, not stopping until she could no longer hear the skittering of clawed feet behind her. She stopped and looked back. She couldn't spot any ants after her. She checked her pip-boy to see where she was and headed south again.

Sally walked cautiously, constantly scanning her surroundings. The afternoon passed without incident. The sun was warm, causing her to sweat in the leather armor. The shotgun was light on her back compared to the pack, which steadily grew in weight with the passing day. She held the assault rifle casually, occasionally shifting its weight to relax an arm. The late afternoon haze hung in the dry still air. Sally was feeling the languor of the day, making it difficult to maintain a constant state of alertness.

Suddenly a raider appeared up ahead, just coming around the corner of an abandoned building. Sally instantly slid behind a large boulder. The raider hadn't seen her yet. She crept slowly around the boulder and raised her assault rifle. Taking careful aim, she fired quickly, taking off the raider's head. She waited. Sure enough, another raider hurried around the building, staring around anxiously as he noted his dead companion.

Sally sprang up, spraying the body with the deadly assault gun. She hurried forward to take cover by the edge of the building and carefully eased around it. She scouted the area, but spotted no more raiders. She checked the bodies. Yeah! More ammo for her assault weapon, and another assault rifle. Not in great shape, but it could be used for parts to fix hers if it became damaged. She no longer felt the slightest qualm at killing ferals of any kind.

She entered the building and checked every corner and decrepit container. It seemed some raiders had been using the building, and she managed to restock some meds and ammo. A few grenades were a welcome addition to her expanding arsenal.

It was early evening and wouldn't be dark for a couple of hours yet, so she checked her pip-boy to see how far it was to her destination. She wasn't even half way, so she set her sight on a distant landmark and set out.

She walked on into the evening until the sun began to set. The sky came alight with color off to her right, casting long shadows across the landscape. She breathed deeply of the cooling air, feeling a little surge of energy lightening her weariness. She could see the skeleton of a blasted building just ahead, she so hoped it wasn't infested with something feral. She approached cautiously, but it proved to be just an empty, mostly open shell. Still it offered some shelter and she curled up in a partially covered corner for some badly needed rest. She slept uneasily, nervous of being in the wasteland, but the night passed without incident.

Sally rose early, just as day was breaking. She watched the dawn spread across the land while she downed some dried food with a bottle of radiated water. It was all she had, but she would take some rad-away if her rads got too high. She briefly wondered why that didn't seem to happen very often as she mostly drank irradiated water and ate irradiated food, but it was just a stray thought, gone as quickly as it had come. She dismissed it and headed east into the wasteland, toward the river and Rivet City and whatever waited there for her.

She had been investigating every building, truck, damaged crate and anything else that looked interesting. Her pack was getting quite full of salvage and she had even found some caps. At least she wouldn't go hungry as she had killed a yao guai, though it had taken some time for her to figure out how to butcher it, even following the directions the sheriff had given her. It took a good part of the day to clean and cook the kill, and wrap the meat to last for a couple of days. She found an old, mostly intact truck to spend the night in.

The morning passed without incident. Sally was used to the long treks now and let her thoughts wander, even if her alertness didn't. Just before noon she spotted buildings in the distance. Her Pip-boy arrow pointed in that direction, so she moved on toward them, though not without a certain nervousness. She must be approaching the edge of the DC area.

The zzzt zzt sound of a robot firing caused Sally to scurry forward and crouch behind some big boulders. She could peer around them to the city street below. A type of robot she hadn't seen before was firing at someone, it appeared to be a raider. She was so concentrated on watching the obviously dangerous machine that she missed the raider running in her direction, until he spotted her. His shout of anger alerted her and she ducked back just in time to keep from being shot.

She held her position and waited, watching the direction from which the raider was coming. As soon as he came around the boulder, intent on killing her, she took aim and blew off his head. She did wonder why they always announced their presence, but hey, it worked for her. She peeked back around the building, but not spotting any further problems, she took the time to search the raider and relieve the body of all useable items.

Sally moved cautiously away from the shelter of the boulders, being careful to keep cover between her and the three-legged robot that was patrolling the next street over as she moved in amongst the buildings. She was moving along the edge of a sidewalk, trying to keep in cover, when she spotted the men far off in the ruins. Unfortunately they spotted her too.

One of the men shouted at the others, pointing at her. All three began converging on her, firing even from that distance. She quickly took cover, but they were coming for her. She couldn't take them all down with her rifle. She pulled a grenade from her belt. She darted out of cover just long enough to hurl the grenade at the bunched figures.

The ensuing screams made a satisfying accompaniment to the explosion, but she didn't kid herself they were all dead. She burst from cover firing. The slam of bullets on her armor didn't slow her down as she mowed them down in deadly bursts. The idiots weren't wearing any helmets, making it easier to take them out with head shots.

Once the men weren't moving she scanned the area for further enemies, reloaded, and went to check the bodies. They had much better maintained assault rifles, even some grenades and ammo. Their armor was in pretty good shape, so she stripped one of them and stuffed the garment in her pack with the other salvage, though it was pretty heavy. She might need it. She found a folded paper in the pocket of the largest man, which she stuffed in her own pocket. It was dangerous out here, no place to be perusing documents. She'd look at it later. All the men had the same emblem on the right shoulder of their armor.

A quick self- inspection assured her that the bullets that had penetrated her armor had not lodged deeply, so she took a Stimpak to help her recover and maintain. Besides, she had gotten a few off the dead men, so she might as well use one of them to ease her pain. Much improved, she moved on.

Sally spied a building that actually seemed to still be intact, with a door not barred over. Curious, she left her path to check it out. Pushing open the door, she was astonished to see people inside in heavy armor. The armor was so heavy and encompassing she couldn't tell if they were male or female. They didn't pay any attention to her, so she left her weapons in their holsters. They were so heavily armed it would have been suicide to do anything else. A woman was at a semi-circular counter in the middle of the room.

It was a large room with a staircase running up the right sides and doors running off the room to right and left. It didn't seem to be in bad shape at all.

Since the people in armor, obviously guards, were ignoring her, she approached the woman at the counter. "Hey,", she said politely. The woman looked up. "Can I help you?", she asked, her tone implying she hoped not. "What is this place?", Sally asked. "And who are these people?"

The woman raised her eyebrows. "You don't recognize the Brotherhood of Steel?", she asked. " I am Scribe Yearling, and these guards are Brotherhood of Steel Pallidin. This is the Arlington library. I'm trying to get it back into shape and make it a library again, a seat of knowledge. Who are you?"

"I'm Sally Weston. Maybe you've heard of my father, Dr. James Weston. I'm looking for him." "I see", said the Scribe. "I haven't heard of your father. You look like a scavenger to me. Are you?" "I do some scavenging and trading. I have to make a living.", Sally responded calmly.

"Well then, I have a deal for you. If you come across any books that are still intact and in good shape, you bring them to me and I'll give you 100 caps apiece for them. You aren't going to find a better deal anywhere." Sally nodded. "Okay, I'll keep that in mind. Now what can you tell me about the Brotherhood here?" _An exclusive club_, she thought, listening to the Scribe describe the Brotherhood's history and mission, _but maybe one worth the effort of getting to know._

By the time Sally left the library it was getting late in the evening, but there didn't seem to be any safe place to hole up for the night. She pushed on. She spotted the raiders before she noticed the turret emplacement on the bridge up ahead. She knelt down, hiding as much as she could as she sneaked up on the raiders. She didn't see any way around them as she had to get past that bridge.

Sally considered her options, then raised her shotgun. Two shots took out the turret and alerted the Raiders at the same time. They rushed toward her, screaming in rage. Sally snatched out an assault rifle and fired, ducked, ran, reloaded, fired. By the time the smoke cleared, 4 raiders lay dead, one on the bridge, others scattered about. Sally was breathing heavily, but the wounds she had received hardly bothered her, thanks to the stimpak she had taken. She was very tired now, though, almost totally exhausted.

She walked around the barriers and onto the bridge. Sally was elated! She had stumbled onto a Raider hide out, and it was loaded with goods. She was too tired to do anything tonight but check the bodies and make sure they were out of sight, then she returned to the camp and collapsed on a dirty mattress. She did wish raiders were cleaner, but scavengers couldn't be choosy.

The dawn rose to a gloomy day, dampening Sally's spirits. She pulled herself up, grunting at the stiffness of her body, now aching from the damage she had received. She set about helping herself to the Raider's food, then took what food, meds and ammo she could find, plus some lighter weight but valuable items for trading. The rest of the goods she put in containers for safe keeping. At least it would keep the weather out, if not other scavengers. She might return someday to claim more salvage.

Checking her Pip-boy, she headed further on East toward Rivet City. She didn't run into any more trouble as she hugged the wrecked buildings, staying away from clear areas, moving slowly and constantly scanning for danger.

That's how she spotted the big mutant standing on the railing surrounding the large, domed building. Her compass indicated she had to go in that direction. There was no way around with the river on one side and impassable wreckage on the other.

She pulled out her scoped 44 magnum to study the creature. She couldn't hit it at this distance and had no intention of trying. It would probably just make it mad. Through the scope she could see how huge and muscular the humanoid was. She put the weapon away. She couldn't take these beings with the lightweight weapons she carried. Her best bet was to try to avoid them.

Sally sneaked up as close as she could. "I see you", a gruff voice shouted loudly. She plunged into the river and swam, a hail of bullets sending up spray around her. She cut back onto land and ran, the sound of heavy footsteps, feral yells, and slamming bullets giving her extra incentive. She fled until she couldn't breathe any harder, but there, up ahead she saw the huge rusting hull of the ancient battleship. She raced toward the platform leading up to the city's entrance.

Sally slowed as she neared the ramp. There was a trader at the base, and the guards looked up as she came in. They didn't seem concerned, though she was panting heavily. "Hey,", she said to the trader. He greeted her in kind, waiting for her to get her breathe back. He didn't ask why she had been running, though he looked in the direction she had come from. He didn't see anything.

They chatted for a while, exchanged some gossip, did a few trades. Sally learned about the trade route that ran through DC to a city up to the North where the traders had a base. He marked it on her map for her so she could go there some day. They had an extensive network throughout the wasteland radiating out from their base.

Dusk was falling when Sally went up the ramp. Halfway up a beggar was seated, wheedling for water. She took out her only bottle of purified water she usually reserved for Wally, and handed it to him. She'd have to get another before going home. She continued on up the ramp until it dead ended. Sally walked to the very edge and looked down. It must be 300 or more feet down to the rocks below. The gulf across to the big ship was at least 100 feet. She looked up and around, admiring the view briefly and then pushed the button on the intercom fastened to the scaffolding.

A male voice issued from the intercom. "Hold on while the bridge extends.", it said, and she watched as a huge, long bridge swung out with rusty metallic screams. It slammed into place with a loud clang. Without hesitation Sally strode across, her weapons sheathed.

"Hold up", the guard demanded, bringing Sally to a halt. "What do you want here?" "I'm looking for my father," Sally replied. The guard wasn't impressed by this answer. "If you're making fun you're going to end up face down in the river", he snarled. "No, really, I am looking for my father. Dr James Weston. Have you heard of him? I heard he was headed this way." The guard considered her. "No, but I don't know everyone that comes through here. You can go in, but behave yourself." He pointed to a steel door in the side of the ship. She decided she wasn't going to be asking him for a date.

It was late. The market place was closed and most of the residents had retired to their quarters. Sally decided to do some exploring. She headed up the stairs to see what she could find. After several hours of climbing up at least 5 floors, and exploring every one, she had reached the top. She had gone out and examined the flight deck littered with now flightless fighter planes, and had chatted with the guard in the guard nest at the top of the ship. The guards graciously allowed her to sleep in one of their empty bunks, saving her from having to purchase a room at the hotel.

The next morning she headed for the hotel. She had discovered the woman she was looking for, Bryan's aunt, owned it. Sally didn't have to convince Vera to take Bryan in. The woman had a kind heart and was happy to take her nephew. Sally assured her she would make arrangements to see her nephew safely delivered, then asked if she had seen her father. "I don't remember anyone by that name, but if he's a doctor of science and he came here, it was probably to see Dr. Li.", Vera said. She gave Sally directions to the science lab, and to the marketplace.

Sally decided to go to the market place first. Her pack was heavy and she would like to lighten the load some.

The marketplace was laid out like a bazaar with booths on either side of the long room. At the end was a small café area where she could buy a meal or sell any food stuffs she had salvaged. She went from booth to booth, introducing herself, picking up gossip on the locals, and trading her goods for ammunition and meds she badly needed. She ended up at the café where she had a meal that was better than she had expected.

Leaving the marketplace she decided to find Dr. Li and see if her father had been here. Directions to the various areas of the ship were posted on the walls, making it easy to find her way to the science lab. She opened the heavy metal door and went down the stairs, to find a woman in conversation with an old man. The man was well groomed with a supercilious air. The woman was obviously aggravated. A heavily armed man in armor looked bored but alert at the same time. Sally pegged him as the man's body guard.

Sally walked over to an assistant and asked about Dr. Li. He pointed her out, with the admonition that she was a busy woman and shouldn't be disturbed. Sally ignored this and approached the middle aged woman in the lab coat.

"Hey, Dr. Li.", she greeted the woman politely. "What do you want, I'm busy." , the woman said irritably, turning. She stopped, staring at her visitor. "It's you. I'd know you anywhere, you look just like your mother. You're James's daughter, aren't you? You're supposed to be in a vault, that's where he said he left you." "Well, I guess you know my dad then. Did you know my mother too?", Sally asked curiously. "Do you know why my Dad would leave the vault and leave me behind? What was so important to him?"

Dr. Li shoved her hair back nervously. "Come on over here," she said, "and have a drink with me. We'll talk about it." Sally followed her to Dr. Li's private quarters and sat down, accepting a beer. The doctor told her about the past. How her parents worked on the Purity Project. How her mother died in childbirth, and her father took her and left to find a safe place to raise her, leaving the rest of them without his leadership. How the Brotherhood would no longer protect or help them without him, so the Project was disbanded. That was how she had ended up on the ship doing other research. Then she told her how James had just shown up out of the blue wanting to start the project up again.

"I told him it was impossible, it had been too long. He insisted it could be done. He took off to find what he needed to start the project up again. He said he was going over to the Jefferson Memorial to find the lead he needed. I tried to tell him it was done, the project couldn't work, but he wouldn't listen. That place is full of super mutants. I don't know if he made it out of there, but if you're looking for him that's where you have to go."

Sally stared at Dr. Li. Was she serious? She had come past there and seen those Super Mutants. They had seen her, too. Only the fact that she had been nearly past them and could out run them had saved her. Surely Li didn't expect her to go into that building all by herself, with her light weapons, and take out a crap load of the creatures? Her Dad had gone there? Alone? All right, maybe he had more experience than her, after all he came from the wasteland, or maybe better weapons. Or maybe he was just plain nuts. People sometimes thought her crazy, but Daddy's little girl wasn't certifiable yet. It had been months since her dad had gone there. Either Dad's body lay over there or he was long gone. Either way there was no way she was going in there. Whatever secrets the place held were going to stay there for now.

Sally thanked the doctor and left her brooding over the past. As she passed through the main lab she noticed the argument had heated up, and the woman finally just threw up her hands and left. Always curious, Sally approached the man. "What do you want?", he asked, taking in the scarred face, worn armor, and easy air of a wasteland survivor. "Just wondering if there's anything I can do for you.", Sally said mildly. He considered. She looked tough enough.

"Maybe.", he said. "I'm looking for some property of mine. If you can help me find it, I'll pay you for your efforts." They discussed the property, and Sally discovered it happened to be an android. It appeared some of the androids from a Northern area had developed a sense of independence and decided to take off. The man wanted this particular one back because he was special. He didn't specify how.

Sally would have to think about this. Machine or not, if it had independent thought patterns, this sounded a little too much like slavery to her. She kept this observation to herself. She decided she didn't like the looks of the man or his body guard.

Sally spent most of a week at Rivet City. She had gotten medical treatment from the local doctor, but she had some healing to do before going back out. She used the time to gossip with the locals and learned quite a bit about them. She also picked up some paying jobs she hoped to fill eventually, though some of them meant long journeys searching dangerous areas.

During her conversations with the residents she had been advised to take the metro underground tunnels if she really wanted to get into the heart of the city. Since the city was a magnet for super mutants it would be the safest way to go. Not safe, but safer than trying to go above ground. It was convenient that it was practically at the foot of the platform to Rivet City. Traders stopped here on their route but unfortunately it often drew mercenaries too, so she would have to be cautious.

Chapter 5

Sally stared off at the Jefferson Memorial from the height of the platform leading into Rivet City. She couldn't see any mutants from here, but she knew the place was crawling with them. She trotted down the stairs and headed for the tunnel opening. Maybe she could find 3Dog and find out if he knew anything about her Dad or where he might have gone, assuming he made it out of the Memorial. Moriarity had said he was headed there, so maybe he knew something. Nobody in Rivet City had been able to mark his location for her, they just had some vague idea he was somewhere in the heart of DC.

There were no dangers lurking around the metro entrance and no traders either. Sally was just pleased to get the few yards to the gates without running into trouble. She pulled open the old rusting gates with a screech of iron, hoping that wasn't loud enough to alert anything within. She went in with her rifle loaded and ready. The entrance was empty of any living thing. Trash scattered the floor of the tunnel. An old Nuka-Cola machine blinked ceaselessly and overhead lights glowed eerily. Sally moved forward quietly. She could hear voices coming from a chamber just ahead of her.

Suddenly a raider stepped into view, spotting her at the same time she saw him. With a yell he lunged for her, whipping out a rifle. Sally dodged into an open doorway as bullets slammed into the floor next to her. As soon as the firing ceased she leapt out, took aim and blew off the raider's head. She had handled raiders before. Thankfully they didn't seem to gather in large groups. She had only to take them out 2 or 3 at a time. They were usually too strung out to work together.

She knelt down and crept forward toward the opening. She peered around the corner and spotted a raider standing on the other side of the platform, his back to her, peering over the edge of a railing. She took her time, getting her aim just right. The raider fell without a sound. She quickly scanned the area, but there weren't any more in evidence. She rose and went out to check the area for salvage.

Steps lead down the platform to the rails below. Rusting hulks of rail cars lined the tracks, some leaning, some falling over, all damaged relics from a past age. She could see that the tunnels appeared open, with walkways running past the lines of cars. There were two tunnels on each side of the cavernous room, with the cars seeming to run in opposite directions. A raider walked along the top of one car, and she could spot another between two lines.

Sally crouched beside the rail and drew a bead on the raider on the car. A single shot took him out but of course alerted the one on the ground, who headed for the stairs with a savage yell. She calmly waited for him to appear at the top of the stairs, where she would have a better shot. As soon as he presented a clear shot she took it. Three down, no damage. She squelched the feeling of pride and went to check the body before trotting down the stairs.

It took more than half the day to work her way through the tunnels, keeping alert for raiders, searching them for loot when she came across them. You couldn't avoid raiders, they were always intent on killing. It was their favorite sport. She wasn't inclined to leave any behind anyway if she could help it, knowing they left the tunnels to prey on anything that moved.

She finally found herself on a platform with entrance tunnels going off to either side. Toss a cap, let's see, okay may as well go left. She trotted up the tunnel and pulled out an assault rifle before shoving open the gates. She had learned the hard way anything could be waiting out there.

The gates opened easily with just a slight groan of protest. They must be fairly well used, she suspected. She stopped to listen and scan the top of the stairs before heading up. Some sound, some disturbance made her uneasy. There was something up there. Crouching low, assault rifle at the ready, she crept up the stairs.

She had barely cleared the top step when she heard the low, guttural growl. "I see you," the deep feral voice shouted and she heard the whine of a mini-gun firing up. "Over here, sightseer", another voice shouted urgently. Sally whirled to see a ghoul motioning her from the steps of a building set behind the tunnel entrance. She ran toward it even as the spit of fire slammed behind her from the mini-gun, followed by the guttural, maniacal laughter of the super mutant firing it.

Now that she was out of range the mutant lost interest and went back to patrolling what looked like tunnels across the street from the building. Deciding there wasn't any danger there any longer, Sally turned to the ghoul. She had grown quite used to Gob and this female didn't faze her.

"Hey.", she said. "Thanks for helping me out there. My name's Sally." "Hey.", the ghoul returned. "Name's Willow. What are you doing, sightseer, taking in the sights?" "More or less.", Sally admitted. "Though not intentionally. I'm looking for a guy named 3 dog. You know how I can find him?" Willow said, "The radio guy? Naw, I don't know where he's at. You can ask inside, maybe someone in there knows." She motioned at the big building behind them.

"What is this place?", Sally asked. "The Museum of Natural History. Some call it Ghoul City." "Oh, that's where Gob said his mother lived. Maybe I can talk to her for him. He said her name's Carol." "Yeah, I know Carol, she runs the hotel. So you know Gob, eh? You must be all right then. Go on in. Go straight back through the far door. If you take the one on the left you'll end up upstairs and it's inhabited by ferals."

"Thanks.", Sally said. Taking her farewell she went up the stairs and opened the huge doors into the Museum. The air was permeated with the slightly musty smell of ghouls but it wasn't overpowering, it was even vaguely pleasant. The room was huge with a large semi-circular counter in the middle. Doors ran off to the left and right. The one on the right was blocked by debris, and she had no reason to take on the ferals if these ghouls were controlling them, so she headed straight on to the big door in back behind the counter, bypassing the doors opening to the left.

Her first reaction on entering the next room was WOW! She certainly hoped the beast whose bones she was staring at stayed in history. She had enough problems with Death Claws and Yao Guais without having to encounter truly huge, sharp toothed creatures. A quick perusal of the room revealed steps leading to another door, a long extinct and ratty giant stuffed creature with huge tusks, and the giant bones. Since there didn't seem to be any danger lurking about she went to examine the stuffed mammal.

A name floated up from her memory. The big creature with tusks was a mammoth. She examined the huge bones half scattered about the floor and decided the extinct creatures probably hadn't been as formidable as a Death Claw after all, although considerably larger. Her curiosity satisfied she turned her attention to the steps leading to a door into the main part of the building.

The door was framed by a huge bas-relief of a skull-like face flanked by an eerie design, apparently cut into the stone by some long ago artisan. The words 'Underworld Journey' were carved just over the doorway. Sally almost laughed at the appropriateness of it. Undaunted she strode up and shoved open the huge metal doors.

The first person- that is ghoul-she ran into turned out to be a maintenance man. His only interested was in trying to get her to obtain scrap metal for him. She'd keep it in mind. She asked about Carol and was told she was on the upper level.

Carol turned out to be a pleasant if somewhat vague person. Gob wasn't her natural son, of course, ghouls didn't multiply that way. She had adopted him when he had shown up one day many years before. Sally assured her he was fine and working in a bar in Megaton. Carol was so happy he wasn't in DC and was safe that she decided to omit the part about him being a slave.

This small personal task for her friend taken care of she asked where she could sell some alcohol she had scavenged. "The Ninth Circle.", Carol said, waving down the hall. "Ahzrukhal is a creep but he'll buy it from you. He'll sell you anything else you want too." Sally frowned to herself. What seemed familiar about that name, Ninth Circle? Maybe it would come to her later. Something she had read, surely.

Sally entered the bar and looked around alertly, a habit now when entering a strange place. Her attention was immediately caught by the tall, strong looking ghoul in leather armor lounging against the wall. Her senses were shouting 'danger' at her. She approached the man. "Hey.", she said. He stared coldly at her. "Any remarks you address to Mr. Ahzrukhal", he said in a tone that allowed no room for discussion. Sally raised an eyebrow. "Friendly, aren't we?", she snorted a little injudiciously.

She went over to the bartender. "Hey.", she said. "Name's Sally." "Hey smoothskin," the well dressed ghoul responded. "You looking for a drink?" "I'm looking to sell.", Sally responded. "I can help you with that. Let's see what you've got.", he said. Sally conducted her business, pointedly ignoring the large dangerous ghoul.

Having finished her trading to her satisfaction she nodded toward the ghoul. "That guy over there.", she said. "Who is he?" "You mean Charon?", the bar owner chuckled. "He's my body guard. You couldn't ask for better, he's absolutely loyal and does anything I tell him." "Really?", she asked skeptically. "Anything at all?"

"Yes, you see I hold his contract. That makes him mine as long as I have it. He'll do anything I ask." "Oh.", Sally said. "So he's a slave." "Absolutely not!", he replied emphatically. " I wouldn't own a slave. Listen, where he comes from the contract is everything. He could leave if he wanted, but he won't. He just can't break the contract. That's his choice, so he isn't a slave."

Sally didn't exactly see the difference but decided not to aggravate him. "So he's your contracted body guard then. Is he any good?" "The best. He's saved my life a couple of times. You seem awfully interested in him." "Yeah, well, I was thinking it would be good to have someone absolutely loyal at your back out there.", she said, nodding in the general direction of the DC wasteland.

"How much would you take for his contract?", Sally asked curiously. Ahzrukhal considered. "He's a pretty valuable instrument.", he said. "I would have to have 2000 caps for him." Sally noticed he hadn't said 'property', but she still felt like she was negotiating for a slave. She had been saving but was a few caps short.

"I don't have 2000.", she said. "Would you take 1000?" He laughed. "Can't do that, but I tell you what. I have a job you could do for me. I don't like competition, and Greta has decided to start competing with me. Kill her and you can have the contract. You'd want to make it look like an accident so the residents don't get upset and try to kill you for it."

Sally tilted her head at him. "Um, no, I'm a scavenger not a mercenary. If Charon there does anything you want why don't you tell him to do it?" "Oh, he'd do it all right, but that would be the same as doing it myself. Everyone would know I told him to. I'm afraid people wouldn't like that much, they might even run me off for it."

"Ah well.", Sally said. "Guess I'd better be on my way then." "Come back when you have the caps and we'll see.", he responded. "Good travels, smoothskin."

Her explorations turned up only 2 more areas of interest. There was a clinic that was staffed with a nurse and a doctor who seemed pretty competent to treat humans, even if he was a ghoul himself. It did amuse her he had named his clinic the Chop Shop. Very funny. Then there was the trading post. Though she didn't have much Sally could use the proprietress was eager to be of assistance, so Sally promised to bring her more supplies and come back to trade.

Sally had made it back through the tunnels to Rivet City in pretty much one piece, with some salvage to trade. She was short on caps to buy Charon's contract, and she was determined to get him. She still hadn't found 3Dog, or any indication of where he was. Maybe if she struck off through the city she might pick up something.

She did some trading and spent the night in Rivet City. It was always good to pick up any local gossip. She had an early breakfast and stepped out onto the bridge to watch the sunrise. Stopping only long enough to hand the beggar Carl a bottle of purified water she hurried eagerly down the steps and headed off into DC looking for salvage.

She carefully skirted the Jefferson Memorial, making sure to stay out of sight of the mutants. Barely past the Memorial, she heard a woman's voice pleading for help. Sally stopped, crouching low, taking stock. She followed the sound of the voice which had ceased pleading and was now just crying. She moved quietly and cautiously up a path, observing the bags of gore hanging overhead, a sure sign of a super mutant camp. She couldn't leave the poor woman to their mercies.

She crept around a barrier and could see the woman, kneeling at the end of a long walkway. There didn't seem to be any mutants about. Sally hurried to the woman and knelt beside her. "Be quiet!", she hissed as the woman started to say something. Pulling a knife from her calf sheath she carefully cut the ropes binding the woman's wrists and ankles. They had been preparing to transport her alive, not a good sign for the woman.

"I don't know how to thank you", she said in a low voice. "I don't have anything, but the mutants left my rifle over there. It's fully loaded. Why don't you take that?" Sally looked where she was pointing to an assault rifle. She already had a perfectly good one. "You keep it, you're going to need it. Now get out of here while you can."

The woman grabbed the rifle, whispering her fervent thanks, and ran off. Sally bent to the task of robbing the mutants of all ammo, food and meds she could find, though she did it as quickly as she could. Her luck might not hold. Still she stopped and did a quick examination of the gore bags on the way out and was rewarded with a few more caps.

She hadn't travelled many more hours before she heard the guttural sound of mutant voices up ahead. She had already tangled with ghouls near a sewer grate and was already injured. She checked her map and decided it would be quicker to head west toward home than try to get back to Rivet City. It didn't take long to discover the way was blocked with impassable debris, and the further she travelled into the city, the more danger she encountered.

The first super mutant she spotted before it saw her. She crouched low and moved slowly over to another road, managing to skirt it. She quickly became aware there were two more ahead of her. She had to go forward, or go back, and either way she wasn't going to come out ahead.

She pulled out the Chinese Assault rifle. It could be in better shape, but it was the most powerful weapon she had on her. Slipping forward as quietly as she could she found herself looking at a large, powerful back. She opened fire. The mutant roared, whirling around as her clip ran out. Springing up she ran backward, reloading as she went, the mutant gaining on her, firing sporadically. With the mutant almost on top of her she took aim and unloaded another clip into its scowling face. The mutant fell within feet of her.

She crouched quickly behind a barrier and waited, listening, but didn't hear any more sounds. She crept out and surreptitiously checked the huge body, being rewarded with a few caps, an assault rifle in poor repair, and some ammo. Good thing it was in such poor condition or he might actually have hit her! She added them to her pack and moved forward warily.

The hail of bullets hitting her armor and the maniacal laughter was her first indication she had been spotted. With a scream of pain she hurled herself behind a barrier, looking around wildly for the source. A huge mutant was standing in front and above her, several feet away, on what appeared to be a platform. She couldn't hit him from here with her rifle, and he had a mini-gun.

Sally gauged her chances, then leaned around the barrier, jerking back as soon as she heard the whine of the weapon winding up. The bullets hit the ground where she had been. It would be several seconds before it could fire again, and Sally used those seconds to leap out and sprint up under the platform where the mutant couldn't see her.

She followed the wall around looking for a way up. As she rounded a corner she spotted some steps. Creeping slowly up, she peered over the top and saw the mutant still looking over the edge, searching for her. She leveled her rifle, taking careful aim, knowing she couldn't take it down with one clip, but not really having a choice. There was nowhere to run it couldn't kill her before she could get there.

She opened fire. The mutant roared, rearing back in pain, swinging around to search for the source. Sally had ducked down below the level of the stairs, but he spotted her anyway. She heard the whir of the gun. Slamming in a new clip she threw caution to the wind and hurled herself into the open, screaming her defiance as she fired the entire clip into the creature. She was knocked down by the force of the bullets that hit her armor before the mutant fell.

Sally sat by the body of the big creature, trying to catch her breath. She was now severely injured, out of meds, and hurting badly. She could spot the road heading west, but she hoped she had enough left in her to make it home to Megaton, and enough caps to pay doc to fix her up again.

Chapter 6

The next few months saw Sally out in the wasteland, working on Moira's crazy experiments, and taking on other contracts. She killed giant ants, mercenaries, mole rats, raiders, ghouls, radscorpions… the list went on. Fortunately she had been able to avoid Death Claws and Super Mutants.

She met wastelanders and vampires, scavengers and traders. There were good people out there too. She became harder and leaner. She talked to any and all beings that would talk to her, learning much about the wasteland, how to find food and shelter and avoid dangers. Those beings that didn't want to talk usually wanted to kill her. These she fled from if possible or killed if she couldn't.

Her stash of weapons and armor grew. She was becoming proficient with her weapons and could butcher a creature efficiently and cleanly. She could take apart, put together, and maintain almost any weapons she could find. The sheriff had taught her a good deal, and even Jericho offered her lessons and advice, although he never talked about his past other than once when he mentioned he had been a Raider at one time. She suspected it had been a hard life.

She now had grenades and mines, and even recipes for creating home-made ones, a bonus from Moira for completing assignments for her. She was coming back with fewer injuries for Doc to treat as she learned how to hide and sneak and her aim improved.

Her other skills were beginning to come in to play. She took on the task of taking a message for one of Megaton's young women to her brother who lived on a bridge North of the settlement. It seemed like a fairly straight-forward job but as always turned into an extended escapade during which she met her first vampires. She delivered her message and then went on to negotiate an agreement between the vampires, who the boy was staying with after murdering his own family, and the small town of Arefu, where he had formerly lived, that resulted in the protection of the town and a small section of the trader's routes.

During this time she stayed for some time in the vampire's den and learned many of their ways, including how to use the blood of others to bolster her own health. She was very pleased that she personally benefitted from the deal with better trades and a better understanding of the wasteland, although that wasn't her original reason for taking the risk.

She had become quite popular with the traders, who regarded her not just as a good customer but as a friend. She was becoming well known throughout the wasteland, which was drawing the attention of those less interested in the welfare of the wasteland, and more interested in their own agendas. Sally was making powerful enemies.

She had realized not everyone cared for what she was doing when she took down that trio of men around Rivet City. She had finally gotten around to reading the document she had taken and discovered that it was a contract they carried. Kill Sally Weston. The men carrying the contract all wore the emblem of the Merc mercenaries on their right shoulder. She would think about this, she was sure she could figure out who wanted her dead.

Everywhere she went she turned on any radio she could find and listened to the static. Why had Galaxy Radio gone silent? Why had her Dad gone there? She knew he wasn't there as she had picked up his trail in Rivet City, so she wasn't in any hurry to brave the DC area to find out what he had wanted with Three Dog. The big question was, did she want to find out? Did she really want to find him? He had lied to her, abandoned her. Maybe she didn't feel ready to go after him because she didn't really want to find him, to find out the truth. She pushed the niggling thought away. She would go when she was ready. There was so much to be done out here. She was going to have to fight her way into the Jefferson Memorial eventually, but not yet.

When she was in Megaton she would spend time in the bar, drinking at her favorite table, passing the time with Gob, or talking to whoever felt like it. She picked up interesting information. Moriarity continued to watch her but rarely engaged her in conversation.

It was as well she had found the boy's family and contracted with passing traders to see him safely to Rivet City. She couldn't have kept him. She was gone a lot. She wasn't cut out to be a mother, so she supposed it was a good thing that she would never have kids of her own. Doc had told her she was so scarred from the wound she had received and the subsequent infection that it wouldn't be possible. Her body bore the many scars of her adventures, though her face remained largely untouched save for the big scar that reminded her of her beginnings. She was careful to always wear the best head and face protection she could find or buy.

The town was having a party. People like to celebrate, they always have. They get together, share food and reaffirm their part in humanity. Megaton was celebrating the end of the year. It was harvest time. What passed for harvest in the wasteland, anyway. Sally had resided in Megaton for almost a year now and was familiar with most of the residents, though she spent far less time in the town than out in the wasteland.

She had been informed of the impending celebration and had decided to make a run to the river, near the Super Duper Mart. She had met a man there who had a small shack on the river and had traded her some fish for some extra ammo she had. It had been so delicious she decided to trade some hard earned caps for enough of the fish to treat the town. She also had some mutfruit she had picked up along the way. She wasn't much of a cook, but Jenny at The Brass Lantern had been happy to prepare the dish. It was a big hit with the townspeople.

Sally was mingling with the townspeople, the center of a group of friends. She was happily regaling them with tales of her antics and listening to their woes of domestic crisis. "Hey, Sally", Billy Creel said, holding out his hand. "How about a dance?"

The music, being belted out on home-made and rustic instruments, was loud, primitive and invigorating. Sally had no idea how to dance, but who cared. She grinned, took Billy's hand, and he whirled her into an energetic exercise. The pre-war dress spun about her, the slippers light on her feet, making her feel very feminine.

They spun and twirled their way around the compound, trying, sometimes unsuccessfully, to avoid other equally energetic dancers. Suddenly he whirled her around and lost his grip on her hands. She found herself face to face with the sheriff. He held out his hands and hers slipped into his. He whirled her off, ignoring Billy's chagrined look.

The sheriff was a smooth and exciting partner. The dark eyes bored into her with growing excitement as they whirled, her golden red hair whipping about them, her stormy gray eyes glowing with pleasure. She laughed from shear exuberance following the sheriff's lead. The music ended and they came to a stop in the shadow of a building.

The sheriff's dark eyes held hers as he lowered his head toward her, then his lips met hers. Her arms went around his neck and he pulled her gently against him, savoring the kiss.

Sally felt the tickle of his beard, the warmth of his body against her, his strength. She felt the stirrings deep in her belly, and then they just seemed to slide away. She went still in the sheriff's arms as her body went cold. Her hands slid down his arms as she stepped back, her hands gripping his briefly. She looked down at the ground, wondering what she should do. "Lucas," she began softly. "We'd better get back to the party", Lucas interrupted quietly. He smiled wryly and led her back to the others, turning away to ask Moira to dance.

Sally danced, and talked and ate and had a good time, though her pleasure was a little dulled by the incident. Not because Lucas had kissed her, but because she hadn't responded. He was a good man, strong and handsome as well. Why had she felt nothing? With all her friends, she was often lonely. Would she always be alone?

Sally had been concentrating her forays mostly along the northern river shores and nearby towns. A few jaunts into the wasteland had uncovered a junk yard where she picked up a stringy, mangy mutt that attached itself to her. She had to kill a few raiders, but that was pretty standard procedure now.

She had no idea why there were slaves in the junkyard, maybe they were just passing through to Paradise Falls, but she got a chance to study the collars they wore, since they begged her to help them get them off. She was able to disengage a couple of them and free the slaves, but one lost his head. Literally. The collar exploded when she tried to disarm it and took off the man's head. At least he was free, she figured, and it had been his choice to have her try. She took the loot she could find and the straggly dog and headed home.

She quickly discovered the mutt was more trouble than he was worth. He attacked anything perceived as dangerous and entangled her in situations she would otherwise have avoided. So much for companions, she figured, better just to take care of herself. Once back at Megaton she'd convince Jenny at The Brass Lantern that he would be a good guard dog for her.

Sally leaned on the outdoor bar of the small café. "Hey, Jenny.", she smiled. "How's business?" "Hey, Sally. Good to see you made it back in one piece this time. We're doing pretty good, traffic's increased coming through town. The traders have been bringing me more fish and mutfruit and it's become a good seller. Appreciate your setting that up for me. Who's your new friend?", she asked, looking pointedly at the scraggly dog at Sally's feet.

"Just sound business.", Sally said. She set up the deals between the traders and suppliers and indicated to the traders where they could sell the products. She worked with them to make their rounds more efficient so they could trade in more friable goods. In return she collected a small finder's fee from the suppliers, as well as a payment from the traders for finding suppliers and customers and brokering deals for them. Sally liked helping people, but she had discovered they had more respect for her if she required payment for her efforts.

"I found him wandering around a junk yard and he just followed me.", she continued, referring to the dog. Jericho wandered up and sat at the bar. "Hey, Jenny, Sally.", he greeted the women. Sally smiled at him. "Hey, Jericho, how ya doing?" "Same as always. Nothing new in town. Got you a dog, did you?"

"Naw, I can't keep him. I was going to try to get Jenny here to take him. He'd make a good guard dog. He's just too energetic for me. If a wild animal even comes within sight he goes barreling in and then I have to keep him from getting killed. If he keeps going out with me he's going to end up as dog meat." Jericho laughed. "Dogmeat, eh? That's a good name for him. If you don't want him I'll take him." Sally realized the middle aged man was probably lonely. He had no family, no close friends. She was probably the closest he had to a real friend. She grinned. "He's all yours. Just be careful if you take him outside, you might have to rescue him from his own exuberance."

Sally had her usual meal. The river fish and mutfruit dish Jenny prepared really was good, no wonder it was a best seller. She gossiped with Jericho and Jenny and the sheriff, who stopped by for lunch. Paying Jenny for the good meal, she picked up her full pack, took her farewells and headed for the Craterside to do some trading.

Her stash of caps grew steadily if somewhat slowly. She hadn't forgotten about Charon. Finally she had enough caps and decided it was time to brave the DC area again and buy her a body guard. She decided she would look for a tunnel entrance. The Museum was just outside a tunnel and they were the safest way to travel, right?

The entrance to the metro tunnel across the river from the Super Duper Mart was very much like the other ones she had been in. A kiosk not far inside held a map of the Metro lines. Studying it, she decided she actually was in another entrance to the same tunnels she had been in before. That didn't mean they were clear, other things could have found their way in. She spotted an unopened door in the wall and went over to it. She never left a door unopened if she could open it.

The door swung open reluctantly. Inside she found the usual clutter of shelves, boxes and containers she had come to expect in storage areas. What she hadn't expected was the lighted containment unit enclosing a robot. It was like the one she had found in the Super Duper Mart. She glanced around and found the computer that controlled the unit. After breaking into the computer she saw it was still active and the robot could be activated, but should she? After all, the one at the Super Duper Mart had tried to kill her.

Noises in the next room decided her. She activated the robot and stood back, waiting to see what it would do. The robot was talking to itself. It couldn't connect with security and was saying something about 'unauthorized persons' and 'extreme force'. She didn't like the sound of that. Then it noticed her. 'Tickets please", it intoned. Sally blinked. What? "Tickets please", the robot repeated patiently, waving at her pocket. Then she remembered the paper she had picked up on the table. She pulled it out of her pocket and held it up. "Thank you," the robot intoned tonelessly and took the paper.

The robot wandered into the next room. She heard it repeat 'Tickets please' then the sound of firing and screams. The raider must not have had a ticket. She was glad she had collected several of the pieces of paper. She had only kept them because she had found them in so many boxes she thought they must be valuable.

She slipped around the door carefully, alert for trouble. She found the dead raider and searched him. She headed on down the corridor toward the rails. She was disappointed when she came on the wreckage of the robot. Obviously something else hadn't had a ticket either, but then they hadn't needed one. She scavenged the energy cells and moved on, staying alert for whatever had demolished the robot.

By the time Sally had made her way back through the tunnel she had disposed of a few more raiders. With the salvage she had picked up she had a pretty full pack. She exited the tunnel with care, moving slowly up the stairs, watching for the mutants across the road. The single guard patrolling was moving away, and as soon as his back was turned she hurried from the tunnel and around to the Museum's entrance, waving to the ghoul guard on the other side of the tunnel.

She didn't pause at the sight of the big bones this time, but passed directly into the main hall. Her query from a resident elicited the information that there was a trading post just down the hall on her left. It was late afternoon, but the post was open, so she opened negotiations.

Sally counted her caps as she left the post. She had 2149. Since a room cost 120 a night she wasn't going to be able to rent a room or even eat very many meals, but that was all right. She had slept on a dirty raider mattress in the tunnels and could eat old pre-war food scavenged from them. She hurried to the Ninth Circle.

The big ghoul was lounging against the wall where she had last seen him. It seemed to be his favorite perch. She smiled at him and was rewarded by a completely blank stare. She strode over to Ahzrukhal. "Hey", she greeted him. "Well, well.", he said with a smirk. "The little smoothskin's back. You got more liquor for me?" "Sure do.", Sally replied, pulling out the few bottles she had found. He paid her for the liquor and set it behind the counter.

"Now, about Charon's contract.", Sally began. "It's still 2000 caps.", Ahzrukhal interrupted. Sally held out her hand. "Done.", she said. He looked at her hand. "Really? You have 2000 caps?" Sally pulled out her money bag and counted out the caps. Ahzrukhal counted them again. "Deal", he agreed, and they shook hands. He took the contract from his safe, replacing it with the caps. He handed the contract to Sally. "I'll give you the pleasure of telling him he's all yours now.", he grinned.

Sally walked over to the big ghoul. "I've bought your contract Charon.", she said. Charon turned an expressionless face toward her. "Mr. Ahzrukhal doesn't own my contract anymore?", he asked. "No, it belongs to me.", she replied, showing him the contract. "Would you mind holding on a minute while I say goodbye to my former employer?", he asked mildly.

"Not at all.", Sally said. Charon walked over to the bar. Ahzrukhal grinned at him. "Have you come to say goodbye, Charon?", he asked. Charon's expression never changed. "Yes.", he said and swung his shotgun up and shot him dead. He replaced the shotgun in its scabbard and strode back over to where Sally stood unmoving.

"I'm ready now.", he said. "He was a really bad man." Sally stared at Charon. "Remind me to not say goodbye if I give up your contract.", she said warily, then turned and went over to the bartender. Waste not, want not, she thought, searching the body. She got a few caps, but she couldn't get to the safe where he'd put her 2000.

Nobody seemed to care that Charon had killed the bar owner. It seemed he really was a bad man and he had treated not only Charon but most people badly, besides which he was a known drug dealer as well. It was also widely known he was trying to find someone to kill Greta, which wouldn't have made people happy as she was well liked in the community.

They strode out of the room. "I need to know who your heir is.", Charon said without preamble. "What?" Sally stared at him. "Why?", she asked suspiciously. "You didn't read the contract.", Charon stated. "Um, no, I guess I didn't.", Sally responded. "Well, if I fail in my job and you get killed, but I am still alive, the contract will go to your heir. That person then can decide if I have been negligent and whether I should live or not."

"That's…", Sally started to say 'barbaric', but decided that wouldn't be politic. She didn't know Charon yet and probably shouldn't make comments about his life. "Interesting.", she finished. "That would be my Dad, Dr. James Weston. I don't know where he is though." Charon didn't bother to answer, that was all he needed to know.

Sally wandered about the huge building, talking to residents, learning as much as she could. She came across a ghoul named Crowley with a proposition. "I've been looking to hire someone to take care of something for me.", he started. "You see, I was left to die by these ghoul haters. They took some keys off me and then left me. I need those keys back, and I want to see them dead. If you do that for me I'll pay you."

"How would you know if I killed them?", Sally asked curiously. "Tell you what, just bring me the keys as proof and I'll pay you 25 caps for each key. Bring proof you've killed them and I'll give you 100 for each one. A finger should do. Except for one, the one at Tennpenny tower. You won't be able to get near him, so I'll just take your word for it. Do you have a sniper rifle?" "No.", Sally admitted. "Then here, if you do this I'll give you the rifle. You'll need it, it's the only way to get him. He sits out on that balcony staring out over the wasteland, should be a fairly easy target."

Sally frowned. "Look, I can't guarantee I can do this right away. I'm looking for my father, and that has to come first. But I'm pretty sure I can come across these folks for you while I'm looking if you're willing to wait a while." Crowley considered. "All right, take the rifle anyway. If I find someone else in the meantime, you just won't get paid. I'll get the rifle back from you next time I see you then." Sally shrugged, accepting the rifle and a list of 4 names. "Sure.", she said. She wasn't going to kill anyone without finding out the cold hard facts, but she could use the rifle. Something about the story made her suspicious.

Sally was thinking about Tennpenny. She hadn't gone that far South yet. She had always meant to go there, but it seemed like she never got around to it. That man Burke who had wanted to destroy Megaton had mentioned it. She would have to consider making the trip when she found the time. Right now she had to get down to scavenging since she was nearly broke again.

They exited the building and stood surveying the area. The super mutants across the way weren't going to let them pass. The tunnels she had come through had been pretty much scavenged out, and the mutants were a danger to any other creature attempting to enter the area. She pulled out her sniper rifle.

Sally slipped toward the entrance to the Metro tracks. Intent on avoiding the mutants across the street, the super mutant coming around the wall took her by surprise. Even as she lifted her rifle Charon charged up and took him at close range. The battle was now on. While Sally moved from cover to cover and wove and dodged, Charon charged ahead like a berserker, firing rapidly, his aim accurate and deadly. In short order the tunnels were empty of super mutants, and Charon was standing calmly by her side.

Sally moved among the bodies taking all the useable goods she could find. When her pack was full she began transferring items to Charon to carry. He accepted them without comment until he couldn't hold anymore. Sally had found a Brotherhood initiate in the tunnels and stripped her of her armor, but it was too heavy to carry and she couldn't use it without special training. She kept the soldier's holotag and stored the armor along with other goods in a convenient trash can that at least would keep it from the weather until she could claim it.

They went back across the street and traded some of the items for more ammo and Stimpaks, but Tulip at the trading post didn't have enough caps to buy many of the items she had scavenged. Sally retrieved some more goods and they headed into the Metro to go back to Rivet City to unload their booty.

No one bothered them as they strode down the tracks and passageways. "I just came through here a few hours ago.", Sally said. "I doubt if anything else has moved in yet." "I can tell.", Charon responded. Sally looked down at a freshly dead body at her feet and shrugged. "Yeah, I guess you can. No need to check 'em, I've already done that." They moved on in silence for a while.

"Charon,", Sally said. "Azhzrukhal said you grew up in the contract. What did he mean by that?" "I was raised in a compound. We were taught to obey the contract. It's what we did.", he said briefly. "Oh, your parents were contract body guards too?", she asked. He was reluctant to talk about himself, but she was his employer, and he was bound to answer her questions.

"No, my parents sold me to the compound when I was five." Sally looked at him compassionately. "You're parents sold you? You're a slave then?" "No.", he said firmly. "I honor the contract." They walked on in silence for a while. "I really don't see the difference." Sally said. It wasn't a question so Charon didn't feel obliged to try to explain it.

Sally stopped on the platform to Rivet City to give the beggar Willy a bottle of pure water. It was late when they entered the city so she went right to the common room, where they took a couple of bunks for the night. Charon slept lightly, watching over Sally and her goods. No one else came in the common room, not wanting to share the night with a ghoul.

"Well, Charon.", Sally said, standing on the Rivet City platform. They had slept later than normal as the market didn't open until 8:00. After completing her trades they had eaten breakfast at the dining booth before leaving the ship city.

"We've sold everything we had, how about we hit the Metro and see where it leads us? I bet there's more stuff in those old buildings in DC. Maybe I'll even find someone who can tell me where to find 3Dog." Charon didn't answer.

Willy was still asleep in his corner of the platform. Sally left a bottle of purified water beside him and they headed off into the Metro. Charon glanced back at the beggar, wondering briefly why she gave up her water for him. Maybe they were related.

They walked through the Metro, sometimes stopping to check a trash can or box Sally might have missed previously, or pick up an item she left because she had already been full and couldn't carry it.

"Are you allowed to tell me about your compound?", Sally asked, as they walked easily along the rails. "There's no prohibition against talking about it. It's not secret.", Charon replied. "Oh, so did it exist before the war?" "Yes, I was in the compound when the war started. We had an underground compound long before vaults were built. They sheltered us, but they weren't so resistant to the radiation as the vaults."

Sally waited, but he didn't say anything else. "How old were you when the war happened?", she asked. "Eighteen. I had just been contracted out and hadn't left yet. Another hour and I would have been outside when the bombs fell. My employer was still in the compound too." Though his voice was as level and expressionless as ever, Sally thought he sounded a little regretful.

"Then what happened?", she prompted. "We couldn't leave the compound for about 20 years because of the radiation, but then things seemed to settle down, and some of us started venturing out. We found other people coming out of the vaults, starting to make new lives. My employer didn't think he needed me then, his enemies were all dead, and he didn't like being saddled with me after I started turning into a ghoul, so he sold my contract." "You've been contracted for over 200 years?", she asked, awed at the thought. "You must have had a lot of owners." He looked slightly irritated. "Sorry, I mean employers."

"Yes.", he said. They walked in silence for a while. "I'm sorry.", Sally said. Charon looked at her, puzzled. They didn't say anything more. They approached the exit leading to the Museum but Sally passed it by and went down another rail tunnel she hadn't been down before. Charon instantly became alert to sounds up ahead. There were raiders here.

It wasn't difficult to clear out the raiders in the tunnel. Charon was an excellent shot and often got them before they could get close enough to Sally to do her harm. She contented herself with picking up salvage.

They approached the gate to the Tenleytown/Friendship station with caution. Weapons drawn, Sally pushed open the gate and warily mounted the stairs. There didn't seem to be anyone within sight, but the station was surrounded by debris behind and to the right. The only way to go was left. They headed that way.

Charon spotted the super mutants first and pointed them out to Sally. She slipped forward to get a better look. Taking this as a signal Charon rushed in to engage the enemy. With a disgruntled yell Sally went after him, firing at the giant trying to kill Charon. Other fire was coming from across a slapped together walkway that straddled the blasted and impassable street. Soon 2 super mutants lay dead in the ruins.

That's when she noticed the Brotherhood that had come to their aid. She quickly stowed her rifle and trotted across the make shift walkway. "Hey.", she greeted the suited figure. "What are you doing here, civilian?", a woman's voice said. "It's not safe here. The GNR is under attack, I was headed that way. You better get out of here." The figure took off at a trot, several other soldiers following her. Sally followed too, and Charon followed her.

They trotted down a hall and around a corner. There were some wounded soldiers lying on mattresses in a fairly well protected area. The woman, obviously a leader, was giving orders to the others. "You better stay here, civilian.", she said, turning to Sally. "We're going into battle. This is no place for you."

Sally turned to Charon. "Stay here. You can guard these men. That's an order.", she said firmly, taking out her rifle and checking the load. As the soldiers trotted off she went after them. "Suit yourself ", the woman's voice called. "But don't expect us to watch out for you." Charon watched her go with conflicting feelings. He couldn't disobey a direct order, but if she was killed his contract would go to her heir, and he didn't know what would happen then.

The troop had not gone far before they engaged the super mutants. They seemed to be everywhere, in doorways, on stairs, standing on the ledges formed by blasted out floors. The troop battled its way through, leaving behind dead and dying mutants and soldiers. Sally made her way to the forefront of the battle. She didn't have the advantage of power armor, but maybe it wasn't such an advantage after all. Without its weight she was quicker, more agile than the slower mutants that relied on brute strength and weapons. Sally relied on her agility and ability to move quickly from cover to cover as well as her deadly accurate aim.

When the firing finally ceased they were standing in a plaza in front of a large building. The commanding officer was talking to her men when the ground suddenly began to shake in a rhythmic pattern that froze Sally's blood. Something big…no, something huge… was coming this way.

All of a sudden a bus blocking a road was hurled up into the air and the largest creature  
Sally had ever seen was standing there, a humungous super mutant at least the height of a 3 story building. One swipe from the giant club or even its hand would finish a human. Or it could just step on them like ants.

The Brotherhood was firing at the creature desperately with all they had, but it was merely making it mad. It stumbled about, not fast, but able to make large strides, swinging its club wildly. Sally had only one chance. She grabbed some bottle cap mines from her pack and yelled at the beast, running toward it, getting its attention. As it roared and came toward her she ran, arming and tossing the mines behind her, hoping it would follow. As she sped across the plaza she heard the first earth shaking explosion, then another. At the third explosion she whirled, rifle ready to make her last stand. It was all she had left.

The beast lay on its back not 20 feet from her. It had been close. Even if it had fallen on her she would have been crushed, it had to weigh a ton. She approached it warily. It was definitely dead. It was a good thing it was as stupid as she had suspected it to be.

Sally approached the officer. "Nice going, civilian.", the woman said, taking off her helmet to reveal a lovely young woman with blonde hair and stunning blue eyes. "We weren't aware a Behemoth was in the area. That was a tough one. I'm Sarah Lyons, commanding the Lyons Pride. What are you doing out here?" "Sally Weston.", Sally said. "I'm looking for 3Dog." "You're in the right place then, that's who we've been guarding. I don't know why but the mutants have been gathering lately and they attacked the GNR building there. But if it's 3Dog you're looking for, why don't you go on up? You certainly earned it. The Brotherhood will remember what you did for us here."

"Thanks.", Sally said. "I'd better go get my companion first." "You mean the ghoul? What's up with him? You just tell him to stay and he does? He doesn't look like someone that you can just order around. You must have something on him for him to just obey like that." "Yeah, I do.", Sally agreed but didn't elaborate. She went off to fetch Charon. He wasn't happy though he would never voice his displeasure to her. She could tell. Ignoring it she told him to come on and help her clean up the mess left by the battle.

It was getting late so they gathered what they could and then spent the night on the mattresses the wounded had vacated, since Sarah had taken her troops and injured and moved them out. The only Brotherhood left were those on the stairs and inside the building to guard 3Dog.

The next morning they got an early start to complete the task of scavenging and sorting. There was so much to be had she had to store much of it in convenient lockers and boxes in the blasted building they had come through for later retrieval. Having completed the job she couldn't put off seeing 3Dog any longer.

Chapter 7

Sally mounted the steps and activated the intercom. A gruff voice snapped at her to quit bothering him and get in there, so she did. She asked the guard after 3Dog and was directed up the stairs.

Her meeting with 3Dog was interesting but somewhat less than useful. Her Dad had been there all right. It seemed when he came through the city had been less dangerous. No one knew what was now drawing the super mutants into the area. All 3Dog knew was that he was headed for Rivet City. Sally had already been there so this wasn't exactly news to her. He did have a request though.

"One of those stupid mutants thought it would be fun to shoot at a big shiny round thing. Yeah, you got it, it was one of my broadcast dishes. That's why you can't get clear reception outside the city, the stupid beast trashed it. If that dish could be replaced it would really help the cause. I happen to know there's another dish in the Museum of Technology, on an old piece of space hardware. It's overrun with super mutants though, so I sure can't go get it, and the Brotherhood has other things to do. If you'd get that dish, and replace the one on top of the Washington Monument, I can give you directions to a weapons stash I happen to have a key to." 3Dog looked at her imploringly, waiting for her answer.

Sally considered. "I'd really like to help, I think you're doing good work here. Okay, I'll take a crack at it. I can't promise to do it any time soon, I have to scout it out, see what's up, you never know what's gonna happen out there, but I'll do it when I can." "Okay.", 3Dog said. "Just remember the wasteland is waiting to hear what's going on." Sally merely nodded and took her farewells.

They stepped out of the GNR building into a surprisingly quiet city. Bodies still littered the plaza, but Sally didn't pay any attention to them. Someone would clean them up or not, they could rot for all she cared. She strode down the stairs to do a thorough last search of the area in case she had missed anything. She was walking alongside the building when her Pip-boy vibrated an alarm.

A distress call was coming in. Sally activated the com and listened. It was mostly static, hard to hear, but she caught the name Reilly and Rangers, and 'super mutants surrounding'. They definitely sounded like they were in trouble but she couldn't tell where they were. She frowned, why did that name sound familiar? "Charon.", she said. "Did you catch that?" "Yes.", he said. "Did any of that sound familiar to you?", she asked. "I believe there's a patient at the clinic in the Museum that had the name Reilly stenciled on her armor. That was the rumor anyway." Oh yes, that's where she had heard it. "Come on.", she said. "We're going back to the museum."

The trip back to the museum was going to take a few hours but that couldn't be helped. Sally set as quick a pace as she could and remain reasonably vigilant for trouble. Suddenly Sally asked, "Can you take me to the compound sometime? I'd like to meet your people." "I can take you." Charon answered. "But you won't meet anyone. It's deserted now, there's nothing left there. I think I'm the last one."

Sally looked startled. "No one else survived? How many were there? What happened?" Charon turned an expressionless look on her. She was such a curious little thing. "I told you it wasn't so resistant to radiation. There were several hundred in the compound, but most died in just a few months. Those of us left started turning into ghouls. I believe most of those went feral. Only a handful of us made the transition."

"I see." Sally said slowly. "So there could still be others alive, only ghouls like you?" "It's possible, but I haven't heard of any of them for over 60 years now. We have a dangerous occupation. I think they are all gone." They moved on in silence for a while. Suddenly Sally laughed, startling Charon.

"I was just thinking, you said your employer sold your contract because you were turning into a ghoul. But wasn't he turning too?" Sally asked. She thought Charon betrayed a certain satisfaction as he replied, "Yes, he was showing all the signs, he just wouldn't admit it. I think that's why he sold the contract, he couldn't stand to have me around reminding him of what was happening to him. I found out later he went feral. He wasn't a very good man." Sally grinned. "Served him right."

They left the tunnel at the Museum entrance with due caution just in case some super mutants had returned to the base in the tunnels across the street. Sally stopped to chat with Willow, a habit Charon was beginning to find slightly irritating. She never went anywhere in a straight line or stayed on quest with concentration. She was always deviating.

The patient they were seeking was still unconscious in Doc Barrow's clinic. Sally was arguing with Doc. "We have to wake her.", she said. "We have to know what she knows if we're to help those people who are trapped." "She sustained a lot of injury, I don't know if she can take being brought around right now. It could kill her.", Doc countered. "Okay, I understand, but if these were my people I'd want to take the risk. I bet she would too."

Doc shook his head. "All right, I'll do it. I just hope she's strong enough." He called to his assistant and prepared the medication to bring her out of her coma. He glanced again at Sally's worried expression, then injected the injured woman. It took a few minutes for her to come around. She was in a lot of pain, and Doc didn't dare add a stimpack to her med overload.

It didn't take long to get the story from her. Her name was Reilly and she lead a group of mercenaries, Reilly's Rangers, who had contracted to map the downtown area. Somehow they had been ambushed by a group of Super Mutants and forced into the Lady of Hope Hospital. They had managed to fight their way to the roof, and from there across a makeshift bridge into the Statesman Hotel. They had again had to fight their way to the roof where they barricaded themselves and held off the mutants, but they would eventually run out of ammo and food. They had lost one man in the hospital, but he was the one that had the ammo cache. She, Reilly, had used their last Stealth Boy to slip out to get help, but it had worn off and she had been attacked and left for dead. She didn't know who had brought her here.

Sally sighed. She knew she should walk away. She also knew she wouldn't. "Can you give me directions to get there? I'll get them out.", she said. "By yourself?", Reilly asked skeptically. "Oh, hell no, I'm taking Charon. If he can't do it, no one can." Reilly's attempt at a smile ended up as a painful grimace. "Here, hold out your Pip-boy." Sally did and she quickly entered the directions. "Find Theo's body.", she said, her voice almost a whisper now. "The weapons cache will be with him. I entered the code to open it into your Pip-boy."

"Go back to sleep, Reilly.", Sally said quietly, motioning to the doctor. "We'll take care of it." The doctor was bending over her putting her back into a healing coma when Sally and Charon left. Charon was thinking he might be lucky to survive being employed by this vibrant woman.

They had already cleared out the mutants across the way but it always paid to be wary. They moved into the metro tunnels and headed for the exit to Vernon Square, following the directions Reilly had given them. The trip through the tunnels was uneventful, for which Sally was grateful. She was worried about walking into a nest of super mutants. Charon showed no emotion at all.

Sally frowned at him as they strode along. "Aren't you worried at all?", she asked. Charon was beginning to get used to the fact she often spoke without preamble and adjusted his thoughts. "Should I be?", he asked without inflection. "Yes, you should. We're walking into a nest of super mutants, don't you think that's enough to be worried about? Don't you have any questions, any opinion?" "It's my job to guard you, not offer opinions or ask questions." Sally growled. "Maybe you should have.", she snapped, going quiet again. He cast her a puzzled glance. She sounded angry, but what could she have to be angry about?

Charon covered Sally as she shoved open the door to Vernon Square. It seemed quiet enough at the moment, but they moved slowly up the stairs, weapons at the ready. Sally spotted the mutant first, but before she could maneuver into a position to take a shot, Charon barreled into the open and opened fire. A curse burst from Sally's lips as she leapt forward to help take it down before Charon got killed. She whirled and ducked, firing at a second mutant that had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. She glared at Charon as she stooped to check them for ammo, but said nothing.

Checking her Pip-boy she motioned to a stairwell leading down to a door and they went down. It opened into a service tunnel that lead to the basement of the Lady of Hope Hospital. She hadn't counted on it housing Merc mercenaries as well as its quota of super mutants, but they managed to deal with them without serious injury. She regretted having to leave all the spoils behind, but figured she could come back later after the rangers were safe. She refused to consider the possibility she wouldn't make it out.

Having made their way through the tunnels they carefully opened the door into the hospital. Sally took note of the hallway and all it contained, keeping Charon behind her so he couldn't see into the hall. She could see a mutant at the end of the hall but he hadn't spotted her yet and she'd like to keep it that way.

They made it through the hotel by a combination of direct frontal attacks and sneaking, accomplished by Sally making Charon stay behind when she was scouting forward. When that didn't work a shout would bring him running to supplement her fire power. At one point a few grenades hurled into the next room wounded three mutants enough to let them take them all on at one time. Sally took the most direct route to each set of stairs she could find. Exploring and scavenging could wait.

Theo's body was on the stairs leading up to the roof. Sally had been watchful of her surroundings and noticed the traps set on the stairs. Disarming them added to her grenade count. With the ammo from the Ranger's cache she felt she had enough to get the rangers out- provided they were still alive.

They were uncomfortably exposed when they scurried across the makeshift ramp into the Statesman Hotel but since they had taken out the mutants on the roof that were firing at them, they managed without incident. Working their way to the roof was another matter. Sally found and disarmed a few more traps. By now they had learned enough about each other to work efficiently and managed to make it to the roof without serious damage.

"Over here," a voice shouted urgently. Sally hurried toward the barricade, the soldiers firing cover for them. "I'm Butcher", the mercenary said. "And over there's Brick and Donovan. Who are you and how'd you get up here?" "I'm Sally, and this is my companion Charon.", she said motioning to the ghoul. "Reilly sent us to rescue you."

"Just you?", he asked, astonished. "Well, I guess if you've made it this far, maybe she sent the right people. But we have to make it out of here now and we're almost out of food and ammo." "I have the ammo from your cache here.", Sally said opening her pack to pull out the ammo and some food. "And some food. Do you have a plan for getting off here? We couldn't take out all the mutants and more keep coming in. I don't think we can make it back out the way we came. They'll be expecting us now."

"We could take the elevator if it worked but it needs a power source. I noticed a robot in a service closet on the way up, but we were taking heavy fire and I didn't know we'd need one. If you can get the fission battery from the robot we could rig the elevator and take it to the ground floor. We could run for it from there."

Sally sighed to herself. Nothing was ever easy. "Sure.", she said. "Stay here, Charon, and help defend our position. I'll be back as soon as I can." Charon opened his mouth as though he wanted to say something, then his lips thinned grimly. Sally cocked an eyebrow at him, but as he remained quiet, she turned and trotted off. The soldiers had killed what mutants were on the roof at the moment, so she was making a break for it before another wave came.

Sally slipped in the door to the hotel and warily looked around. Nothing in sight. She edged down the stairs and began a surreptitious search of all the doorways, looking for the closet. She finally came across it and removed the battery from the robot. Good, she hadn't drawn attention to herself. She froze at the sound of super mutant voices approaching. She watched from behind her doorway as they passed, checked out the room and returned the way they had come. Letting out her breath she hurried as quickly as she could without making noise up the stairs and onto the roof.

"When we get down we'll fight our way out.", Donovan said. "Meet up with us at headquarters when you get the chance." He punched the location into her Pip-boy. With the battery in place they took the elevator to the ground floor.

Sally lost track of the rangers. She motioned to Charon to follow her as they left the hotel. She headed back into the bottom floor of the hospital and made her way to the basement door. Heading back through the access tunnel she loaded them with as much salvage as they could carry, storing the rest in a room they had found off the tunnels. She was beginning to get caches all over the wasteland. She simply couldn't carry enough. They left the access tunnel and hurried across the open space to the metro tunnel entrance. There was no sign of the rangers or mutants. Sally was going to go trade in her goods and get fixed up before looking for the ranger's headquarters.

It only took a few hours to maneuver through the metro to the Chevy Chase exit, cross the open space to the Tenley Town/ Friendship station exit, and take that metro tunnel to the Farragut station that exited into the wasteland within sight of the Super Duper Mart. They had only to cross the bridge over the river, pass the Mart and in a couple more hours they were home. It was much easier now that the metro had been pretty well cleared of vermin. Sally even managed to pick up a little more salvage, although their packs were already pretty full.

Sally decided to spend a few days at home resting and cleaning the place up. By the second day she was beginning to feel annoyed at Charon. "You don't have to watch me all the time, you know.", she said. "Why don't you go do something?" "What do you want me to do? It's my job to watch you." "Well, it's just creepy. No one is going to hurt us here. Why don't you go read a book? You do know how to read don't you?" "Of course I do." "Then pick out a book and read it. You might find it interesting." He scowled at her as he went over to the shelf and scanned the volumes. Sally collected all the good books and manuals she could find so there was quite a good selection.

Sally left Charon absorbed in a book as she took a variety of items and headed to the Craterside to do some trading. She actually felt a little relieved not to have him with her all the time. She was going to need plenty of ammo and some repairs to her armor before she headed out into the DC area to find the Rangers. She was bored. If she could tear Charon away from his book they'd leave in the morning.

Sally spotted the Enclave soldier before Charon did. He was pacing around the entrance of a gated water tower, obviously left to guard it. No need to deal with it, she could easily skirt him without being seen. Sally moved quietly up the ridge, expecting Charon to follow her. Where was he anyway? Suddenly she heard the gunfire. Looking down she saw Charon charging the soldier, shotgun blazing. With a vehement curse she flung herself down the hill to join the battle before he got himself killed. The soldier had power armor, for God's sake.

Sally stood looking down at the dead soldier, her eyes blazing with anger. "What the hell did you do that for?", she demanded. "Didn't you see I was trying to avoid him?" She slammed her rifle into its scabbard. "You killed him, now help me get the armor off. And you can carry it too, it's heavy.", she snarled.

"He's an enemy. He could have harmed you.", Charon replied, helping remove the armor. Sally snorted. "He was guarding the tower. Who's going to guard it now? Raiders could destroy it. He wasn't any danger to me."

She grunted as she pulled off the heavy top and tossed it to the ground. Walking over to the spigot she washed up from her efforts, then turned to confront Charon. She started as she saw Charon putting on the armor. "Did you kill that man for his armor?", she demanded suspiciously. "And how do you know how to wear power armor anyway?" "It's part of my job.", he answered primly. "Well, at least wash the blood off it!", she snapped. She turned on her heel and started off down the path to DC. She was still mad, he supposed, though he didn't know why. He had to think about it.

The rest of the trip into Rivet City was more routine. Charon was more careful to avoid killing perceived enemies unless Sally indicated they should be. He didn't want her mad at him again. It was late evening before they approached the gate and she performed the ritual of presenting a bottle of purified water to the beggar. Charon wondered if it somehow benefitted her to do this, but he couldn't see how.

Sally took care of trading before the merchants closed up for the night. This done she went looking for Ted Strayer to get the key he took from Crowley. She found his son and discovered that while Ted was dead, he had left the key to his boy. When he learned that the key was worth his life he was more than happy to give it up to Sally with her assurances he wouldn't be harmed. Sally pocketed the key and went off to chat with other residents before turning in for the night in the common room.

Early the next morning they headed into DC. Sally wanted to find the Rangers compound and see if they had made it back all right.

Chapter 8

Charon watched Sally change into the Reilly Ranger armor she had been given by a grateful Reilly herself at their headquarters. She had befriended the Brotherhood, but she wasn't a part of it. She wore the Ranger armor, and they had offered her their support, but she wasn't a mercenary. He didn't quite understand. But he felt it must have something to do with her willingness to risk her life for others. For a cold blooded killer maybe she was after all a good woman. He hadn't made up his mind.

Sally had made up her mind after helping the Pride take down a behemoth. The added experience of rescuing Reilly's Rangers had clenched it. She now felt competent to take on the mutants in the memorial. With Charon at her back the Jefferson Memorial no longer scared her. It was time to go find Dad, dead or alive.

They had spent the night at Rivet City since it was less than a half hour's walk from the Jefferson Memorial, where they were bound. They made an early start as Sally had no idea how big a challenge this was going to be. A light breakfast was in order. It was never a good idea to go into battle with an overstuffed stomach, so they had eaten sparingly of some cold food and stood on the platform to watch the sunrise. That is, Sally watched the sunrise and Charon watched Sally, wondering why she did this, and why she had brought a bottle of pure water to leave with the beggar as they left.

The trek to the memorial was without incident, but they could see the memorial itself was guarded by super mutants patrolling the catwalks surrounding the building. Sally motioned Charon to the side to cover her as she sneaked up toward the base of the catwalk. She moved slowly up the ramp, trying not to disturb the mutant at the top with its back to her. She took careful aim and shot at the head. Charon took the signal and began firing from the ground. Between them they took down the mutant without injury but now the others had been alerted.

Sally ran forward, firing as she went at the big mutant coming toward her. She ducked as the mutant swung a giant sledge at her, screaming wildly. Not quite fast enough, the edge caught her and knocked her into the railing. Charon's covering fire saved her as the mutant raised his sledge to finish her. It toppled at her feet. She struggled up, nodding her thanks to Charon. She moved forward down the opposite side of the catwalk onto the ground.

A door entered the Memorial from here. They slipped quickly inside, alert for danger. The hall appeared empty, but she could hear sounds coming from the end of the hall. They crept forward slowly. Sally spotted the computer terminal on the wall. One thing she had learned in her travels, never pass a terminal without checking it. You had no idea what it might be controlling. She motioned Charon to stay back and slipped up to the terminal. After a few tries she managed to break into it and found it was a control terminal for a turret in the next room. She deactivated it and shut it down. That would be one less worry.

Motioning to Charon they resumed their advance on the room. She knelt in the doorway and studied the barrier erected before her, and the super mutants standing behind it. They didn't know they were there yet. Taking out several grenades she lobbed them past the barriers. As the explosions ripped through the room she jerked up her shotgun and blasted at the advancing, but now injured mutants. Their maniacal cries filled the large room briefly before the thud of their bodies hitting the floor silenced them.

Sally and Charon advanced quickly into the room, taking up positions on either side of the open door opposite the one they had entered. More mutants were in the room beyond. Sally motioned to Charon and then hurled a grenade into the room, following quickly on its blast. They're shotguns blasted, finishing the job. Sally moved on quickly, sliding through the door into the rotunda.

They were immediately confronted with a super mutant. With a roar he swung a super sledge, just grazing her shoulder, knocking her into the wall. Sally was stunned for a moment. It would have been a moment too long as the mutant raised his sledge but for Charon's quick reaction. The shotgun blast took the mutant in the chest. Staggering back it turned to aim at Charon, taking another blast to the face. It fell at the base of the stairs, causing the mutant coming down the stairs to stumble.

Sally quickly recovered and raised her Combat rifle to fire at the mutant just catching its balance. With Charon's covering fire they took it down. Sally could now creep up the stairs and peer into the control room. She could see another mutant, it's back to her, just around the bend of the sound proof, circular room. She spotted the holo tapes just inside the door on a control panel.

Sally slowly reached up and activated the door. As quietly as possible she crept into the room, watching the mutant. She reached up and snatched the holotape, then crept slowly back out of the room, closing it behind her. She hurried down the stairs and out the door.

No mutants were in evidence here so she quickly activated the tape. It was made by her father months before. He left the tape so anyone following him would know where he had gone and why. This was what she had come for, so they left.

Back in Megaton Sally watched the entire holotape. So her Dad had followed to vault 112. That was nice, but he could have left better directions. West past Evergreen Mills and located in a garage. Not really specific, but she would have to find it, however long it took.

Sally spent several days healing from her encounter with the mutants. The trip back to Megaton had left more injuries as she had found it hard to expend her usual amount of energy in defense. Only having Charon's help had allowed her to reach Megaton pretty much in one piece. Doc had been less than compassionate as he took care of her wounds, and it did cost the usual amount of caps. Sally didn't mind. Her caps were beginning to grow again. It took little more than a week before Sally felt sufficiently strong to go look for her Dad.

The left early in the morning before breakfast. They had just gone out the gate when the sound of gunfire alerted them the town was under attack. The guard in the lookout was firing at the ant heading toward the robot. They quickly rushed forward to protect the town and the town's robotic guardian. He really was more of a mascot than guardian and Sally didn't want him to be destroyed as she was fond of him. The ant wasn't hard to kill, but it did take a little time to cut the prime pieces of meat from it before moving on. She gave the meat to Wally with the purified water on the way out.

They headed toward the church on the top of the hill, moving carefully. Such structures often housed unwelcome guests. Suddenly a woman screamed, running from around the corner. A raider closely followed, cackling as she chased the woman, a flamer blazing in her hands. Sally leapt to her feet and dashed forward, screaming, firing wildly to distract the frenzied raider.

The raider whirled toward the distraction. Sally dropped as the flames shot toward her, rolling to the side, swiftly coming to her feet and firing almost point blank at the raider's head. The raider dropped, the flamer going out as it hit the ground. Sally could hear Charon's shot gun. Even as she whirled toward the sound a slug slammed into her shoulder, knocking her back. She quickly leapt forward, behind a large boulder.

Bullets slammed around her. As they ceased she jumped up, located the raider re-loading, and quickly fired into him several times. She dashed to the corner of the church. Peering around she took aim on another raider concentrating on Charon and took him out.

Suddenly silence reigned. Sally slowly crept toward the doorway and peered in. The church was empty of living beings. She scanned the churchyard. Charon was checking the raiders to make sure none were still alive. She began a quick reconnaissance of the area, but found no living raider. There were several dead. Charon had been busy. She looked around for the woman but didn't find her. She must have gotten away.

"I guess we got them all,", she said. "Come on, let's see what they've left in the church. It looked like a camp in there. But be careful, there's a trap in the front door. I'll get that disarmed but where they've placed one they've probably put out others."

Sally sat on a dirty mattress and tended her wounds. The bullet had gone through her shoulder, but it was the burns on her arms that concerned her most. She was glad she was somewhat flame resistant due to her encounter with the crazy fire ant scientist, or it could have been a lot worse. She cleaned the wounds carefully with irradiated water. The gauge on her pip-boy still didn't register near the fatal level so she didn't want to waste purified water. A stimpack took care of the pain and started the healing process.

It was already late so she decided they would just sleep here tonight and scavenge the place out tomorrow. She had found two traps she hadn't had any trouble disarming. She hadn't asked Charon to help and he didn't offer. He went out to make sure the bodies were moved away from the church while she prepared something to eat for them.

Sally felt much better by morning. The burns had faded to red, itchy areas and she could move her arm without effort. Charon hadn't been injured. He was good at keeping himself intact for a ghoul. Sally went out back to take care of personal business. Having completed this she decided to check over the hill and see what was there, as she could hear some vaguely familiar sounds coming from that direction. She spotted the top of the poles and pulled out her sniper rifle to look more closely through her scope.

Charon went out to see what was keeping Sally. She was taking an awfully long time and the wasteland was a dangerous place. He came up behind her and knelt beside her to see what she was doing. "There's a super mutant camp down there.", Sally said. Charon pulled out his field glasses and studied the camp. "Not just a super mutant, it's a behemoth camp.", he said. "Yeah, I agree. I wonder why he has that teddy bear all caged up like that? You think he likes stuffed toys?", she asked curiously. Since he had no idea Charon didn't reply. "I think we'll go that way.", Sally said, pointing over the hill to the left. "No need to tangle with that thing". Charon agreed.

It took a good part of the morning to salvage out the camp. Sally considered her options as she checked the landscape and the direction of the sun. Without good directions it could take a long time to find their goal, so they might just as well head in the general direction and check out anything interesting. They headed on toward the west, more or less.

Sally stared at the railroad tracks leading down the deep valley. "What do you think, Charon?", she asked. "Want to find out what's in there?" He stared at her. He wasn't used to anyone asking his opinion. "Well?", she asked, watching him curiously. "No, I don't think it's a good idea to walk into a valley without knowing what's in there." Sally considered this. "You're right, that wouldn't be a good idea would it? How about we skirt it up there and see if we can see anything from that outcrop?" Charon said slowly, "Yes, that would be better."

They headed up the slope, Sally leading as always and Charon watching her back. Sally was intent on making her way to the edge without being seen. She had spotted the tops of buildings and what appeared to be a bridge, so that spelled danger in big red letters. She didn't pay any attention to what was happening behind her until she heard the sound of gunfire. Charon was trying to take down a pair of Yao Guai and was in danger of being overwhelmed. She quickly ran forward, firing at the creatures. "Are you all right?", she asked Charon, taking out her knife to cut prime pieces of meat from the dead animals. He didn't appear injured.

"I'm fine.", he growled, disgruntled. He wasn't sure he approved his employer caring about him. He accepted the wrapped meat and stuffed it in his pack. He scanned the country behind them while Sally crept toward the cliffs edge. "Charon.", she said quietly. "Come see." He knelt and crept up beside her.

The rail way line dead ended in a large, roughly circular valley. It was crammed with buildings, walkways, catwalks, and raiders. A huge round pen in the middle sparked with energy. "I wonder what they have in there that's so hard to contain?", Sally asked. Since there was a cover on the pen they couldn't see inside. Charon didn't bother to comment. As long as she didn't want to go in there he didn't care.

"Come on.", she said, slipping backwards away from the edge. "This isn't what we're looking for. We better get out of here before we're spotted." Now that Charon could agree with. He was a contracted body guard, charged with protecting the woman with his life. That didn't mean he wanted to die for her, and that place looked like a suicide waiting to happen.

Dark was falling as they trudged away from the valley's edge. "We need a place to spend the night.", Sally said. "I don't like staying out in the open. Do you see any buildings?" Charon shook his head, and they trudged on. A few minutes later he pointed. "Over there, I see a building." They headed toward it.

They were skirting around the building, weapons at the ready. If they could clear out anything that was inside, it would be a good place to spend the night. It was very solid still. Sally opened the door and they slipped in.

It only took a few minutes to clear out the radroaches and mole rats inhabiting the building. They found a switch to activate a covering in the floor, revealing stairs going down. "Dad's notes said that Vault 112 was located in a garage. This looks like a garage to me, don't you think so?" She was used to Charon's not answering her queries, so took no notice of his silence. "I've found a door.", he called from a dark corner.

Sally hurried over. "I think we might be in the right place. It's late, though, and I'm tired and I know you are too. I saw a mattress upstairs. Let's get some sleep before we take on any more. I'll just close that door we came through and it should be safe." She turned away and headed back upstairs. She knew Charon would follow. He never argued with her or had an opinion. It was very annoying.

The Yao Guai meat cooked up fairly quickly and made an excellent dinner when cut into strips and cooked over an open fire with tubers Sally had found during their trek. She was rarely in too much of a hurry to stop and harvest edibles when she came across them. Charon appreciated the hearty, warm meal after all the cold food they had been eating. He buried the debris so it wouldn't draw predators while Sally prepared bedrolls inside for them. It had been a tiring day and they fell asleep quickly.

Charon didn't understand why his employer stood outside, sipping on a bottle of Cola, watching the sun rise to burn the mist from the chilly air. He was conditioned to not question the foibles of those who held his contract, so he merely scanned the landscape for danger while she stared at the sky. She finally sighed, tossed the bottle aside, and went back into the garage to have a quick cold breakfast before heading down to the mysterious door.

They watched the vault door slowly pull back and roll aside with much creaking and groaning of mechanical parts, steam issuing from the opening mechanism. It was a bit intimidating, the very vastness and power of the huge, gear like door that fitted in its opening like a puzzle piece. Sally had seen it before but it still thrilled her to watch it, though not enough to divert her attention from what might be behind the door. Their weapons were held at the ready.

Nothing attacked them. Nothing moved as they stepped into the empty entrance. A door on the left was the only one not blocked by fallen debris, so Sally went through it.

A Robobrain spotted her. It moved toward her. Sally watched it warily. She had learned all Robobrain gave warning of their intentions, and not all wanted to kill her. "Greetings, citizen.", it said. "My sensors indicate you are 200 years late. Please don your vault uniform and take your place in a Tranquility Chamber. If you have forgotten your uniform or misplaced it I am authorized to issue you one." Sally took the offered uniform. "Please advance down the hall to the tranquility chamber." Sally looked down the hall. It would be useless to ask the Robobrain questions, it had run the extent of its programing. It obviously didn't recognize Charon as human as it didn't address him.

Sally checked the uniform. 'Vautl 112' was displayed in big letters on the back. She was in the right place then. Motioning to Charon she headed down the hall. No one had heard from her Dad in over a year. If he was still here what could he have been doing for that long? Maybe he had found Dr. Braun and they were working on the Project. Maybe he was lying dead in a hall or room. Her stomach clenched as she started her search.

The hall had several doors running off it. She opened the first one on the right and stepped out onto a catwalk. It overlooked a vast, circular room with devices of all kinds hugging the walls. What caught her attention was the huge egg shaped pods, several of them, encircling a large machine in the middle of the room. Each pod appeared to have its own computer monitor sprouting from the machine in the middle. This was different from anything she had seen before.

There was no way down to the chamber from the catwalk so she went back into the hall and followed it to the end where a set of stairs led down, so down she went. The stairwell exited into the chamber. Her attention was caught by a door in the wall, with a computer beside it. The egg shaped pods weren't going anywhere so she decided to check out the door first.

So far she hadn't run into any other life forms, but she was still glad for Charon guarding her back as she worked at cracking into the computer. It was difficult, the person who set this password was no lightweight. It took some time. Charon stood patiently as always. For some reason it annoyed Sally that he never got aggravated. She cast him a slightly resentful look and resumed her task until finally it let her in. She punched the controls and the door swung open.

The room was a treasure trove of weapons, ammo and meds. Sally didn't take anything but a swipe card to the overseer's office, which she stuffed in the pocket she kept Charon's contract in. They would scavenge when they left, if given the chance, but right now she didn't need this stuff. She left the room, closing the door behind her. Anyone else trying to get in would have to break the password as she had.

She walked to the center of the room and peered into a pod. The top was partially transparent and she could see a man sitting in a chair, unmoving, computer monitor in front of his staring, unseeing eyes, tubes attached to his body. She turned away and traced the conduits leading from the pod to what seemed to be a main computer terminal in the middle of the pods. She looked at the monitor attached to that pod. It had a name glowing on the screen and under it a running commentary on the man's vital readouts and stress level. She walked to the next one, and the next. This one was unoccupied. She moved on. The next to last one said 'unknown'.

Sally frowned. Surely he didn't, did he? She turned to the 'unknown' pod, walked over, and peered in. "Damn it, Dad", she said out loud. "What in hell were you thinking? You just crawl into a Tranquility Pod to see what it's like, or what?" She kicked the side of the pod petulantly. Charon showed no reaction to this. She glowered at him. "Can't you show a little bit of emotion sometime?", she growled. "Why?", he asked, puzzled. Sally sighed. No reason to take this out on the contract body guard. It wasn't like he chose to be with her.

"Never mind, I'm sorry. Listen, I'm going to have to go in there after him. I don't know if I'll ever make it back out. He's been in there over a year, so it probably won't be easy. This is what I want you to do. I have to change into this vault's uniform, so I'll leave my uniform and everything else over in the room. Memorize the password, because if I'm not back in 6 months I want you to take everything. Most important you need to take your contract. You won't be in thrall to me or anyone else, you can do what you like with it. Got it? Six months from today."

"I understand. I will watch over you for six months.", he said emotionlessly. Sally shook her head exasperatedly. "No. I don't want you staying here for six months alone. You'll go nuts. I don't need a crazy killer on my hands if I make it back out. You can stay 2, 3 days if you want, but then go somewhere, anywhere you want. Just leave me a note so I know where to find you. That's an order."

Charon wondered why he felt vaguely hurt that Sally thought he might become a crazed killer. He watched her change into the vault uniform and neatly store her belongings in the room, then repeated the password to her several times until she was satisfied he wouldn't forget it. He wasn't happy when she crawled into the pod and the lid swung shut. She sat staring at the monitor with unseeing eyes. He settled down to wait. She had said he could go where he wanted. He wanted to stay here and keep her safe. This made him uneasy. He had never cared about an employer before.

Sally watched the lid swing shut, striving to hide her fear. The monitor swung into place and she stared at the screen. Reality faded and shifted. She was standing in a perfect small town, only it was in black and white. Nauseatingly comforting music played in the back ground. The houses and yards all appeared perfect, upper middle class, pre-war American. Women strolled about in dresses with perfectly done hair, while men wore what she thought of as pre-war casual. A young boy sat behind a lemonade stand. She considered this for a moment, as she had never even seen a lemon, but dismissed that quickly. She had to find her Dad.

She approached the residents and found that, while all of them were friendly and evinced no surprise at all at finding her in their midst, they hadn't any idea where her father was. They didn't even seem to find it strange she was looking for him, assuring her he would turn up soon. They all advised her to talk to the small girl watering flowers in the park, though the boy did tell her that Betty was mean and found things funny that hurt others.

She approached the girl. "Hey.", the girl said. "Someone new to play with. This is going to be fun. I'm Betty." "I'm looking for my father. Have you seen him?", Sally asked. "Oh, was that your father? He wouldn't play with me. He's very annoying. But I tell you what, I'll tell you where he is if you play with me." A rather small shepherd came up to sit at Sally's feet. She glanced down and patted the dog on the head.

"Sure, I'll play with you. What do you want to play?", Sally asked mildly. "I want you to make Timmy cry. It should be easy." Sally considered the mean little girl. "Why would you want me to do that?" "I told you.", Betty said. "It'll be funny. Make Timmy cry, then we'll talk." Sally shrugged. "Sure, why not?", she said. The dog whined and she patted him absently.

This wasn't right. The girl seemed to be in charge here. Since this was a computer simulation, she had to find out what was going on, and where her Dad was. Simulation or not, she wasn't going to make a small boy upset.

She began wandering about the town, talking to every resident. There was only one family and two other couples. She walked in their houses, examined everything. They didn't care, until she came across a very old lady. "Please, you have to help us!", she said. "This isn't real. None of it. We're dreaming. It's horrible, he keeps us here and tortures us for his amusement. Please stop it."

"Who does?", asked Sally. "Dr. Braun. He controls us. But you can stop it. There's a failsafe, if you can activate it this hell will stop. It's in the abandoned house. Please help us." "No one else in town has said anything about this.", Sally said warily. The old lady looked desperate. "I'm the only one who remembers. I don't know why. Maybe that's what he's doing, letting me remember, letting me know about the failsafe to torture me. No one else believes me."

"I want to help you, but I have to find my father. He's in here somewhere." "If he's in here the only way to help him is to stop it. He could be anything. Please, please stop it. I can't take it anymore." "I'll have to think about it.", Sally said.

She walked out of the old woman's house. The old woman had mentioned Dr. Braun by name. It was either the truth or Braun pulling a trick on her. The dog was waiting on the sidewalk waiting for her. _He could be anything. _"Dad?", she asked, kneeling down to look at the dog. He whined and licked her face. Great. Her Dad was a dog. Well so much for asking him what to do. She knew which house was the abandoned one, she had found it while searching the houses. "Come on.", she said. "We're getting out of here." The dog followed her to the house.

Inside the house she studied the fixtures in the living room. Look for anything out of place, her instructor used to say. Look for what doesn't fit. Okay, a gnome perched on the side of an upturned couch. A radio, not playing the looped background music she now officially hated. An empty cola bottle in the otherwise neat room. A cement block sitting on a table. A pitcher on the table beside the radio. Maybe not necessarily out of context, but why an empty pitcher with no glass and an empty bottle?

Sally walked over and reached to turn on the radio. As soon as she touched it, it emitted a musical note. Interesting. She touched the pitcher. Another note. She touched the cement block. Another note, followed by a harsh tone. Okay, that was wrong. She understood now. She went about touching each object, starting over when the harsh note sounded. She finally worked out the pattern, and a virtual control panel suddenly erupted on the far wall.

There were several files to choose from. Sally studied each one, learning that Dr. Braun did indeed control the simulation. He had already changed it twice, starting with a beach sim, then a snowy mountain sim, and now this peaceful small town. But in each one he took delight in torturing and killing the inhabitants, then bringing them back so he could try something new.

She felt nauseous and angry. They might be in a sim, but they were real people in those pods, being tortured for the last 200 years, then having their memories erased so he could do it again. The final sim, which he had installed but said he would never use, was a Chinese invasion sim with the failsafes off. If activated, everyone in the town would die but Dr. Braun, who was not in the pods in the room, but safely ensconced in the overseer's office. He would continue to live forever in a world empty of other people. That was why he would never activate it as that would be the ultimate hell.

Sally looked down at the dog. "This is our only chance, Dad.", she said. "There's an escape door. If we can find it before we're killed, we can get out. If I don't do this, we're stuck forever at the mercy of this lunatic." The dog whined, nodding his head. Sally turned back to the panel and activated the Chinese Invasion Simulation.

She shoved open the door and they peered out into a town gone mad. Chinese soldiers were everywhere, running in packs, shooting everyone in sight. Suddenly the dog plunged from the door. Sally didn't hesitate, running after him. He fled to the green in the center of the town, and she saw it as he looked back at her. The door. She leapt through, sure the dog wouldn't go through until she did first.

Reality shifted. Sally was staring at the opening lid of the pod. Dad! Had he made it? Charon was standing beside her pod. He reached up and helped her out, then suddenly let her go to whirl and train his weapon on a big man advancing on them. "Don't.", she said urgently. "That's my father. Dad, you made it out."

"Thanks to you. I couldn't open the door to the house and no one else was going to let me in there." Sally flung her arms about her father. "It's good to see you, kiddo.", he said into her hair, hugging her tight. Charon put his weapon away, watching them curiously. He had never had a father hug him.

Sally pushed Dad away. "What the hell were you thinking getting in that pod anyway?", she demanded. Dad scowled. "I was trying to find Dr. Braun. I needed answers and I thought he'd have them. I found him all right, but how was I to know he'd be insane? He went in there, so I went after him, then I wouldn't play his games so I got stuck. What about you? What are you doing out of the vault? How'd you find me?"

"I followed you of course. Did you really believe I wouldn't? I found your holo tapes, that's how I knew where to look for you.", she answered. "You were in the Jefferson Memorial? That place is crawling with mutants." "Well, it was, not now.", she said grimly. "You killed them? By yourself? How'd you manage that?", he asked in astonishment.

"Yes ,we killed them, me and Charon. How else was I supposed to find out where you went? You didn't exactly leave messages everywhere.", she answered hotly. "All right, all right..", he said hastily. "It's just, well, anyway,", he said changing the subject. " Who's your friend?"

Sally smiled, her anger evaporating as quickly as it had come. "This is Charon. He's my body guard." Dad looked surprised. "You have a body guard? How did that happen?" "I bought his contract. Cost me everything I had saved in over a year, but he's worth every cap. I couldn't have made it without him."

Dad stared at her. "It's been more than a year? I couldn't tell in there. I thought it was just a couple weeks. So you'd be 20 now.", he said, paternally eying the large male clad in Enclave armor. "And how in the world did you buy an Enclave body guard?" Sally laughed. "Closer to 21, Dad. And Charon isn't Enclave, he just likes the armor. I've tried to tell him it isn't the best choice. I've shot him a couple times by mistake, haven't I?", she asked Charon. "Not her fault,", he said. "I shouldn't startle her dressed like this. She has good reflexes. Was only one shot anyway, and she pulled at the last second, didn't hit me."

"Say, Charon.", she said curiously. "How long was I in there? You're still here." "Two days." "That's all? Well I guess I haven't aged much then, have I?", she grinned. "Anyway, Dad", she said, changing the subject abruptly. "How did you manage to get in the memorial? You must be pretty good to do it all by yourself." "Oh.", he said, looking slightly abashed. "I used stealth boys. I was just looking for information. I was just going to leave when it occurred to me to leave the holo tapes in case anyone wondered where I went or if I didn't come back, maybe someone else could find Braun and work on the Project. I never thought it would be you."

Sally grinned, then started laughing quietly. "I might've tried that, but I didn't have any Stealth boys and couldn't afford them after buying Charon. Ah, well, I'm hungry. I'm going to go get my pack now and get something to eat. I'll be right back." She strode over to the door in the wall, punched in the code and disappeared into the room. Dad raised his eyebrows. "She opened the door?", he asked Charon. "Yeah, she has a lot of talents."

Sally strode back out, tall in her combat armor, her pack across her back, assault rifle in its scabbard on the pack, laser pistol on her side, grenades lining her belt, knife in the calf holster, looking every bit the wasteland warrior she had become. Dad stared at her. She hadn't put on the helmet, she was holding that. He took in the tight, vibrant figure, the bright red gold hair, the long scar running down her face. She stopped, halted by his appraising stare. "What do you think?", she asked quietly.

Dad walked forward and touched the scar on her cheek. "I think I made a mistake.", he said. "How's that?", she asked. "You belong out here, don't you? You were never happy in the vault. I shouldn't have taken you there." She took his hand in hers. "No, Dad, you were right. I couldn't have learned what I needed to know out here. I might have learned to fight, but would I have learned to read, to think, to crack computers? Would I have had any medical training? I learned more in there than you had ever intended. The vault, I can't live there, but it was where I had to be. You were right to take me there. Now let's get something to eat, I'm starving."

There were no bedrooms, bathrooms or kitchen in the vault as it had never been intended to be inhabited. They went upstairs to the garage area. Sally and Charon pulled food from their packs to fix a meal. Charon took off his helmet. Dad started. "He's a ghoul.", he exclaimed to Sally, fixing his eyes on Charon. "Why, I believe you're right.", Sally rejoined in mock amazement. "Did you know you were a ghoul, Charon?", she asked with wide innocent eyes.

"Yes.", he responded dryly, not understanding this bizarre humor. Sally turned to her Dad. "Don't be fooled, Dad, he's no feral. He's the best shot I've ever seen and an exemplary body guard. You can't find better." "Sorry.", Dad muttered. "I was just surprised, that's all. Is she always this sarcastic?", he asked Charon. "Pretty much.", Charon replied, taking a cola and going to stare out the window at the gathering dusk.

Dad and Sally talked late into the night. She asked many questions about her mother and his work. He caught up on her adventures in the wasteland and DC area. He was gratifyingly impressed when Charon told him how she had run with the Lyons Pride and helped take down a nest of super mutants, including a behemoth. He was still disgruntled she had ordered him to stay behind and guard the wounded. It didn't help when Sally pointed out the order had been made in front of witnesses, so it wouldn't have been his fault if she hadn't come back.

The sun was peeking through the dusty windows. Dad opened his eyes to find Sally standing outside, Charon beside her, watching the dawn. Dad rose and stood watching her. It had almost the feel of a ritual. He didn't say anything when they came back in.

"Come back to Rivet City with me.", Dad pleaded. "I could use your help. I'd really like to have you with me." " We can escort you back if you want, but I couldn't stay. I have work to do Dad." "Well, I guess I can make it back on my own if you can't stay with me. I understand. You've made a life for yourself out here. Will I see you again soon?"

Sally smiled. "I'll stop in whenever I can. Good travels, Dad." She gave him a hug. "Good travels, Sally.", he said and lifted his pack. Assault rifle in hand he headed down the path. Sally watched him uneasily. "Maybe we should go with him.", she said. "No.", Charon said. "He would feel you don't have faith in him." Sally stared at him a moment in surprise. Charon had offered an opinion.

"You're right.", Sally said. "Come on, we have a vault to clear out. We should get more than enough to pay for this trip. We'll have to store a lot of it, we can't carry that much, but I expect I'll be back." Charon didn't respond. He knew this was how she made a living, and she was good at it.

They made their way through the vault, collecting and sorting items into those they would take and those they would store in the secure room. They eventually made their way to the overseer's office. The swipe card Sally had found in the secure room no longer worked, but she was able to punch in the code. The door swung open.

Sally stepped into the room. In the middle of the room was one of the large pods with a man inside. This had to be Dr. Braun. Everything in here was shielded, even the computer monitoring the pod. This man was evil, insane, he deserved his fate, locked forever in a simulation with no other live human beings. She couldn't do it, just leave him like that, to that ultimate horror.

Charon watched her take the explosives from her pack. She looked up at him. "Where do you think I should put them?", she asked, calling on his superior experience. He walked into the room and considered, then went about placing them in strategic areas. "This is very well fortified, Sally.", he said. "I don't think we have enough power to destroy it."

"I have to try. I can't leave him like this if I can end his suffering.", she replied quietly. Charon absorbed this without comment. He hadn't really wondered why she wanted to blow the man up, but now he thought about it. He wouldn't have cared; she did.

They left the room and shut the door. Charon activated the explosives. They weren't finished in the vault yet, and didn't dare open the door until the debris had settled, so they went back to work.

It took a few hours to complete the task of clearing the vault and make their way back to the overseer's office. Sally activated the door and they peered in. The pod was still intact, the shielded computer still read stable life signs. Sally closed the door and walked off, her back straight. She had done all she could. It was time to move on.

Chapter 9

Since she had found her father and knew he was safe at Rivet City she finally had the time to trek to Tenpenny tower. She could see it in the distance, and wanted to check it out. She was curious about the place since Burke had told her to rendezvous with him there after destroying Megaton. That wouldn't happen now, but it had sparked her interest. She had made the trek, but hadn't been impressed with the place.

Her greeting had been less than warm, and even though it was late in the evening she was not allowed to rent a room. They considered her so much riff-raff, though she was allowed to trade in the various shops. The residents were having a confrontation with a group of ghouls who seemed to want admittance to the tower. She was secretly amused that they were not aware her completely battle clad companion was a ghoul. She was sure they would have had a conniption fit over that.

It hadn't been easy to get to talk to the ghouls. They resided in tunnels running next to and under the Tower, and the tunnels had been guarded by feral ghouls. It was only after working her way through the tunnels and disposing of the ferals that she had been able to talk to the intelligent, non-feral ghouls. Their only interest had been in getting her to help them take over the tower. She found it interesting that Charon had not felt it necessary to reveal his identity to them either.

She hadn't been allowed an audience with the great Mr. Tenpenny, the owner, who lived on the top floor of the posh 13 floor tower. She could see him up there keeping watch over his domain. That's why Crowley had given her the sniper rifle. She believed she could easily take him out from a protected area without much danger to herself , but she wasn't ready to kill the old eccentric yet. She still didn't know if Crowley was telling the truth.

Sally wasn't impressed with either group and stayed out of their squabble. After several conversations with the residents and ghouls, she was pretty sure these groups would never tolerate each other and she didn't want to be involved in their bloodshed. Let them work it out. At least she now had another place to trade off goods, pick up gossip and make some caps.

They had spent a night in a blasted building with a young scavenger who had proven far friendlier than either the tower residents or tunnel ghouls. She hadn't been fazed by Charon and indeed seemed to appreciate having his alert strength to bolster their defenses during the dark night. She had a semi-permanent camp in the building and had been able to perform some minor repairs to Sally's armor, showing her how to stitch and mend the stiff, hard material, while they exchanged gossip and stories.

Charon watched the landscape for danger, listening to the chatter of his employer and her new acquaintance without comment. It surprised him that it had a calming influence on him. The light girlish laughter wasn't normal among the type of beings that usually employed a contract body guard.

Sally stood behind Tennpenny tower and observed the sun rising over the bridge off to the East. She was considering her options. She could see buildings to the southeast of the tower that she hadn't been to yet, and she hadn't been farther south. She could go home to Megaton but her packs were empty of salvage, so that didn't seem worthwhile. She hadn't seen Dad for a while and he was off to the east. Okay, so if she hit the buildings and then headed East into DC she could stop at Rivet City, unload salvage and visit Dad.

Charon watched her absorbing the sun's warmth, then suddenly she turned and headed toward a building on the other side of Tennpenny tower. She hadn't said a word.

They approached the building cautiously, weapons ready. Sally stood to one side and pushed open the door. "Put that away." a woman's voice said firmly as Sally stepped over the threshold. Her attention zeroed in on the woman, standing behind a counter, her shotgun lowered at them. Recognizing she was in a trading post Sally lifted her gun up and slipped it into her holder. "You should put up a sign." she said. The woman shrugged. "Did you want something?" she asked.

"I was just checking out the building, but now I'm here let's see what you've got to trade.", Sally said. The woman nodded, indicating her inventory. Sally could always use more 308's, she did favor her sniper rifle. Keeping it in good repair was a priority too. Having completed her deals she bid the woman good trading and headed on out. It was nice to know where the trading posts were. Fortunately Charon hadn't taken the offensive.

The rest of the trip to Rivet City was fairly routine. By the time they got there their packs were full of salvage, a lot of it taken off the bodies of ferals and mercenaries.

"Hey, Dad.", Sally said, coming up to her father. He looked up from the papers he was studying. "Hey, Sally, Charon. I'm glad you came by, I have something to tell you." "Yeah, what have you been up to?", Sally asked suspiciously, tossing her pack onto the floor and stretching. Dad grinned.

"I've asked Madison to marry me.", he said. Sally's eyes widened. "Really? Wow!That's great! When is the wedding?", she asked excitedly. Dad smiled with relief. He hadn't been sure how she would take the announcement. "Since you're here, no time like the present. How about tomorrow morning?"

Sally grinned widely. "I'm so happy for you. Madison is a good woman, she'll be good for you. She's always been in love with you, too, that's great. Where is she, I wanna congratulate her." She didn't miss her Dad's startled look. Men!, she thought. He probably hadn't even been aware of how Madison had felt all these years.

The wedding was a big hit with the residents of Rivet City. They had few enough reasons for celebrating. Sally greatly enjoyed the party, flitting from man to man, dancing and laughing, conversing with the residents. She seemed quite happy. Charon merely observed, wondering at her ability to be so light hearted at times, and so hard or sad at others.

Sally kissed her Dad and new step mother before retiring. She was up to greet the dawn on the platform before heading off into the city. She was going to make her way to the Museum of Technology and find the dish to get the radio station back on air.

They strode past the Jefferson Memorial with barely a glance at the domed structure. The mutants didn't seem to have come back in. Not far past the structure, though, they slowed and cautiously approached a known super mutant camp. Charon spotted the look out first, just before the lookout spotted them. He had time to get off a round and Sally slid behind a damaged beam, waiting for the cease fire of the mini-gun before leaning around the structure and firing into the lookout. Once it wasn't moving, they moved carefully forward toward the camp.

It was necessary to kill the remaining two mutants who in no way were going to let them pass. Once they were dead they took the time to rummage the bodies and search the camp for any items before moving on deeper into the DC area.

Sally's attention was caught by a sign warning strangers to put away weapons before entering a barricaded area the sign indicated was 'Dukov's Place'. Yeah, that wasn't going to happen, she thought. She slipped quietly around the barrier, but no one was in evidence. Then she spotted the door in the large, intact building. Holding her shotgun ready she carefully pushed open the door. "Hold on, beautiful. Put your gun away and come have a drink.", a heavily accented voice invited cheerily. Sally took in the large room at a swift glance, noting the two scantily clad women who were the only other occupants besides the small, dapper man. She lowered her shotgun into a neutral position.

"Hey.", Sally greeted politely. "Are you Dukov, then?", she asked. "Sure am, this is my place. You here to join my ladies?", he asked in reply. Sally glanced at the women. "Naw, I'm not your type.", she said with a smile. "I'm just here for Crowley's key." "The key?", he queried, surprised. "Now why would I just give it to you?" "Well, for one thing Crowley said if I brought back the key, I wouldn't have to kill you. If I don't, he'll just hire someone else to kill you. There's plenty of mercenaries out there willing to kill you first, then ask for the key. How about you make it easier on both of us and just give it to me?"

"Well, if you put it that way, you can have the damn thing. It's not doing me any good anyway. Here, have a drink on the house while I get it." Dukov went off to get the key from a safe. Sally went over to one of the girls. "Hey.", she said. "Why aren't you wearing any clothes?" "Oh, Dukov doesn't like us wearing more, he says it just gets in the way." "Oh. He's quite a creep isn't he? Why do you stay here?" "It's safe here, I have plenty to eat and all the booze I want. It's not so bad. I don't think I'd stay alive long out there."

Dukov returned and handed Sally the key. "Come and have a drink with me anytime, beautiful. You won't need all those clothes here." Sally shook her head amusedly as she accepted the key. Since she didn't like leaving any place unexplored she set about examining the structure, with Dukov's permission. Though she found the place interesting she wasn't a thief, so she took only the wine he had given her. With a polite farewell to Dukov and his girls they set on out into DC to find the Museum of Technology.

They eventually made their way to the Museum of History where Sally and Charon spent some time gossiping with the residents. They learned all about the local happenings and shared their adventures with them. Sally did some trading in the local trading post and got her hair cut by the local hairdresser. After a couple days, fortified and rested, they left with directions to the Museum of Technology. They only had to go into the Metro, go straight across and go out the other side. The technology building would be right there.

There weren't many mutants in the trenches. But that was because, according to the local gossip, they were mostly holed up in buildings…like the Museum of Technology. _Of course_, Sally thought_, where else would they be but where she needed to go_?

The Metro tunnel was clear so it took them less than half an hour to walk across. Although they were wary and on guard as they left the tunnel there were no mutants in evidence. They approached the building with little effort.

Charon stood ready while Sally pushed open the door. And then it began. They had to fight their way through 3 floors of deadly mutants looking for the dish, but Sally finally found it. It was attached to a satellite that had once been a display. Sally had to find her way to the top of the satellite, remove the small dish, and make her way back down.

The mutants didn't have much salvage on them, but their rifles would bring a good price. They spent the night in a small, easily defendable room, but no more mutants showed up. Sally was badly injured, it hadn't been an easy take over. Stimpacks and hemostatics would keep her going until she could get proper medical attention.

Sally took the small dish and all the loot she and Charon could carry. They walked out of the building and into the nearby Metro. It would take less than half an hour to make the trek across the metro, up the other ramp and out to the area in front of the ghoul's Museum. From there it would only be a five minute walk across the street to the Washington Memorial.

Sally walked slowly to conserve her energy. Charon knew she was badly injured, though she would never admit it. The stimpack she had taken would wear off soon and she would be feeling it then. "You know what, Charon.", Sally said. "It's been a rough day. The radio's been off for years, one more day isn't going to make a difference. Let's just go see your friends and get us a decent meal. We can even spend the night. We got plenty of salvage so we can afford it now. We just have to pick it up tomorrow."

When they got to the museum Sally went first to the doctor. She was pretty bad and the doctor had to do some surgery, so Charon left her in the clinic for the night and went to get a bed and some dinner. She ended up staying two days and nights in the clinic, but the third day she was healed enough to leave. The doctor frowned at her as she paid him. "You healed awfully fast for a human.", he said suspiciously. "Yeah, that's me.", she grinned. "See ya later, Doc."

The Brotherhood guards at the Washington Memorial exchanged pleasantries with the odd couple. Sally was a friend of the Brotherhood and they had no problem allowing her access to the Memorial, but they appreciated that she took the time to explain her errand to them. They would be happy to have the radio back on.

Sally left Charon waiting in the downstairs room while she took the rickety, ancient elevator to the top. She was afraid it might not hold both of them and it was a long, long way down. It finally creaked to a stop and she stepped out gingerly onto the damaged floor. It was not too difficult to attach the dish though she had to be very careful not to lose her balance. She took a moment to admire the view from the height before attaching the booster that would allow all the wasteland to enjoy 3Dog's newscasts and ancient music.

The elevator creaked back down and deposited Sally safely on the ground floor. Charon was glad to see she was still intact. He wondered why he cared. Sally grinned at him as she stepped off the elevator. "Well, that's done, big guy, what say we get more salvage from the History Museum and head on home? It's a long way, even through the tunnels it takes a good six hours." "Shouldn't we see 3Dog first? I thought he promised you a reward for getting the dish up." "Oh, yeah, you're right. We might as well get it while we're in the area.", she said.

It only took a few hours to get to the GNR and collect their reward from 3Dog. Well, actually all they got was the key and the information where the weapons were stashed. They would have to claim them from the wasteland on their own.

It took all the next day to salvage out the building and stack the saleable goods where they would be easy to get at when they returned. They just had to make sure the room they left them in would be locked with a good lock not many others would be able to crack, or they would lose a lot of items to other scavengers. They took what they could carry and hit the tunnels to head home.

Chapter 10

"Hey, Moira," Sally said, tossing her pack onto the counter. "How's business?" "Pretty good lately. Say I've got this new stuff, it's some kind of fungus I think, but it's great stuff. I got it off a trader that was out west. He said it came from a cave settlement, it's just kids, can you imagine, a whole settlement of just kids? No adults? I wonder how they do it. Anyway this stuff's just great, I sure wish I could get some more of it."

Sally waited for Moira to wind down. "A settlement of just kids? All by themselves?" she asked wonderingly. "How do they survive?" "I don't know, but this trader says they have a whole town there, and they're pretty good at taking care of themselves. He had a hard time getting them to trade with him, but they grow this fungus stuff. It's not very edible but I can make some great meds from it! I'd sure like to get some more of it."

"I'd like to try to find them, see if they will trade with me. Can you mark their location on my map?", Sally asked. "Well, no, I don't know exactly where they are, but they're somewhere due west of here.", Moira answered.

"I haven't come across them but there's still areas out west I haven't been to.", Sally mused. "Maybe I'll head out that way in the morning. Do you have any 308's?", she asked, and the traders got down to business.

Sally and Charon had a good breakfast at The Brass Lantern. She gossiped with Jericho and chatted for a bit with Jenny then headed out the gates. She had watched the sunrise from her balcony as she did most mornings when she was home and had brought a bottle of pure water for Micky. She felt pretty good when they set out, heading west to see if she could find the strange cave settlement run by kids.

Charon strode along beside her, his curiosity finally getting the better of his reticence. "Why do you always give that human beggar a bottle of your best water when we come or go?", he asked. Sally thought about it. "Well, I guess because he needs it. He'll die if he doesn't get good water. I can get by without it, so I try to help him out. I know what it's like to be thirsty."

Charon frowned. "I know what it's like too but I would never give away my water. I don't understand." Sally smiled sadly. "It's not something you need to understand, Charon, it's something you have to feel." Charon suddenly came to alert and darted off like a dog on point. Sally sighed. He took his job so seriously, but it seemed to be all there was to him.

They wandered the west for over a week. They found a small group of buildings under a bridge. Sally was interested in the Nuka-Cola collection the young woman was fanatically collecting. She obviously had consumed too many of the Quantums, but Sally never judged people's sanity. She wasn't dangerous and that was all that mattered. She did offer to pay for any Nuka-cola Quantums Sally could find, but Sally didn't find the offer attractive when she could use them to create powerful bombs.

They also found a super mutant camp. It was in an uninhabited area, so Sally tried her best to avoid killing any more of them than she had to. The radscorpions were a different matter and they ended up killing so many Sally quit trying to gather the glands. She simply couldn't carry them.

It was the lights that drew Charon's attention. He pointed them out to Sally, though she had to climb on a boulder to see them. She wasn't as tall as Charon. She grinned at him, her eyes lighting up. Something really interesting to check out.

The hot wasteland sun beat down on them as they made their way over the rough ground to the interesting lights. They were strung over poles and towers and a small cabin. Sally was glad for the shelter from the blistering day. She spent some time checking out lockers and boxes, finding a few small objects. Then she rested until the sun started down.

They emerged from the shelter in the cooler evening. Sally almost missed the door set way back under an overhang. It turned out to be the entrance to underground caves. Charon opened the door and went in first, in case of trouble, but nothing moved in the tunnel. Sally's excitement grew as they trotted down the long tunnel. She must have found what they were looking for!

This was confirmed when they entered a large cave. The far side of the cave was blocked by a barricade with a large door in it. She moved to approach the door. "Stop right there, Mungo.", a young but very stern voice demanded. She looked up to see a young boy in a combat helmet with a shotgun trained on her. She quickly motioned Charon to stand down before he decided the boy was a danger to her. "Hey.", Sally said. "Is this Little Lamplight?" "Who wants to know?", the boy demanded. "My name's Sally. I'd like to trade with you.", she replied.

"Well, Sally, my name's Mayor Cready, and we don't trade with mungos", he said . "Why not?", Sally asked reasonably. "Because we don't trust you. We've had too many problems with mungos.", he answered. Sally decided mungos must mean grown-ups to these kids. Interesting. "Well, Mayor Cready, I'd like to trade with you, so what can I do to prove I can be trusted?", she asked. He considered. "Some of us have been taken by slavers. If you can get my people back, I'll give you trading privileges." "Okay.", Sally said. "You've got a deal." "Then don't come back unless you can free them.", the boy said.

Sally pushed open the door and stood looking around. It was full dark now, so they decided to spend the night in the shelter. "You've been around a long time, Charon. Do you have any idea where the slavers might have taken the kids?", she asked. "Yeah, probably to Paradise Falls. That's where their base is.", he responded. "Can you mark it on my map?" "Sure, let me see, it should be right about here.", he said, touching the screen and setting the mark. "Hmm, that's a little ways, but we should be able to make it in less than a day." Sally was always optimistic.

It actually took most of the next day to get within sight of the slaver's town. Sally had stopped at various times to trade with roving traders or sell items to lighten their load, though she always managed to pick up more items from trucks, shacks, and other areas she searched. Since it was late Sally decided to make a camp out of sight of the town and go in in the morning.

Sally and Charon discussed the best approach to freeing the kids. Charon was all for taking on contracts with the slavers and/or buying the kids. This left a sour taste in Sally's mouth. She didn't mind lying to them, but leaving alive such scum was against her personal code. She finally opted for the lie to get in the gate. However, almost as soon as she secured a slaver collar from the guard at the gate, in exchange for agreeing to enslave others, she simply couldn't stand the farce.

She shot him. That was what started it. It took most of the day, a good deal of their resources, and several stimpacks to clean out all the slavers from the town. The doctor wasn't so difficult. She wouldn't even have shot her if the doctor had only yielded, but she didn't. She tried to kill them. The person at the trading post wasn't any better.

Once the gunfire ceased Sally found the slave pens and freed the kids, and the other slaves as well. She had to power down the signal that would set off slave collars so no one would lose their head. It should work throughout the wasteland, she figured, so maybe it would help those that were being held elsewhere as well.

The kids wouldn't wait for her to escort them back. They took off on their own. Sally shrugged. They were pretty self- sufficient, good at hiding, and they were armed as well. She had seen them grabbing weapons on the way out. She and Charon set about salvaging the town. It was pretty full of stuff. They took the most valuable items and headed for home. It took several trips and several days to clear the town of saleable items. Sally didn't want to wait too long as slavers would be wandering in.

There was quite a supply of saleable items in the house at Megaton now. Sally took a day to organize and list the items. She spent all one day trading in the store, bar, waterworks and with the doctor. She was trying to build some credit with him for those times she was broke and damaged. Finally they had healed sufficiently from the ordeal of taking down and clearing Paradise Falls. It was time to go back to Little Lamplight.

The trip this time took less than a day since they knew the way now. They did have a few altercations and picked up some extra salvage as well as the items Sally had brought to trade with the kids. Her greeting this time was way different. The Mayor, indeed all the kids, were happy to let her in after they got their friends back. Sally was able to procure a good supply of the fungus Moira wanted and the kids were happy for the food items, meds and weapons Sally could leave in exchange.

After leaving Little Lamplight they headed back home to Megaton. Sally was satisfied the kids had made it back. She had been worried about that. Now she could go home and heal fully before taking on any more. The fungus and salvage would bring a good supply of caps to keep them going for some time.

Sally was brooding by her work bench, creating more bottle cap mines. "Charon", she said, glancing over at where the big ghoul was reading in the chair. He barely grunted in response. Ignoring his lack of interest she continued, "You remember me telling you about the first time I came to town, the incident with the bomb and that Burke guy? I've been thinking about it. The Mercs aren't going to leave us alone as long as that contract's out on me. I'm willing to bet whoever sent Burke wasn't very happy about me thwarting his plans. I think it's time we paid another call on Mr. Tenpenny."

Charon looked up at this. "You know he's pretty well guarded." "Yeah, I know, but I have a way in." She grinned, "Let's head on down there tomorrow. It's not more than half a day's walk." He merely grunted and went back to his book. It didn't much matter to him which way they went there was bound to be trouble.

The trip to Tennpenny Tower took most of a day, partly because of the time it takes to butcher animals after you have to kill them. Sally didn't like waste so she always tried to take the useable cuts of meat or hides when she could. Yao Guai was especially good, it was not only tasty but it was very nutritious. Still, butchering, cleaning, and wrapping meat takes time.

It was pretty late in the evening when they finally arrived in the vicinity of the tower. Sally announced their presence at the gate and they were admitted. They didn't waste time talking to the head guard, who was a fairly unpleasant character. Sally headed straight to the kitchens to sell the fresh meat she had garnered, then took the elevator to the top floor.

A guard was sitting outside Tennpenny's suite. Sally approached openly and stopped in front of him. "I want to see Mr. Tennpenny.", she said. The guard looked her over contemptuously. "Mr. Tenpenny isn't seeing anyone.", he said. "You better move along." "Really? Tell him Sally Weston is out here. He's expecting me." "He didn't tell me he's expecting anyone.", the guard replied. "Well, you better check with him, because he won't be a bit happy if he finds out you wouldn't let me in.", she said coldly.

The guard did a quick check on the intercom. "All right,", he said. "Go on in. But if you cause any trouble you're dead meat." Sally didn't bother to respond to the threat as she strode through the door into the suite, Charon right behind her.

No one greeted her so she began an inspection of the suite. Bedrooms, bath, sitting area. Not much for such a rich man, she suspected. She finally went out onto the balcony and found the old man sitting at a table, sniper rifle laying across it, a mug with some beverage handy to his hand.

"Who are you?", he asked. "How did you get in here?" "I'm Sally Weston. You let me in because you know who I am. I'm the one that killed Burke." "Ah, yes, Burke. He was a good employee, though he could get a little extreme, I suppose. Why did you kill him?" "Why did you ask him to blow up Megaton?", Sally rejoined. "I didn't exactly. I just said it was an eyesore and it's a pity something couldn't be done about it. He had the right idea though, don't you think? Rid the wasteland of that sort of filth. Make room for the people who count."

"I see,", Sally said. "Like the people who live here? This is a fine establishment you have here, . How did you do it?" Mr. Tennpenny beamed. "Yes, it is. Some people say it's my crowning achievement, but I'm not done yet. You're quite an enterprising person, aren't you Sally? How about you take Burke's place as my right hand? We could build the wasteland together."

"Um, no, I don't think so Mr. Tennpenny.", Sally replied. "I pretty much like working for myself. That's not why I'm here. Have you heard of someone named Crowley?" "Crowley,", Tennpenny repeated. "I believe I knew a ghoul by that name. He's been dead several years now from what I've heard." "You must have heard wrong, because he's alive, and he's contracted with me to get the key you took from him. So, how about you just give it to me and save us all a lot of trouble? He wanted me to kill you, but that shouldn't really be necessary, should it?", she asked mildly.

Mr. Tennpenny chuckled harshly. "That fool! I've not got his key, he knows that. He just wants me dead. I tell you what, girl, whatever he's paying you to kill me, I'll double it if you take care of him for me." Sally shrugged. "Listen, Mr. Tennpenny, I don't care what's going on between you and Crowley. I'm mainly here to tell you I know about the contract you have out on me. You'd be wise to cancel it."

Tennpenny shook his head. "Can't do that, girl. Them Mercs, once they take a contract, they see it through. If I was to try to cancel, they might kill me. Guess you're going to have to deal with them.", he smirked.

Sally considered. "Sure, why not? You know I'll take care of the lot of them eventually. But keep this in mind, Tennpenny. You're not safe here. You're trapped in this tower. You can't go outside, and if you make an enemy of me you won't even want to sit on this balcony. I tell you what, let's make a deal. I want to come and go whenever I like. I'm sure you'll let your guards know I'm welcome in your suite any time, oh, and I'd like access to that nice comfy room that's vacant here on this floor. Just to rest in, you know? If your Mercs don't kill me, and you take care of me, I won't kill you. You try anything, like telling your guards to take pot shots at me, and I'll not only kill you, I'll destroy this tower. Think about it. Think about what I've done and what you know I'm capable of doing. I'll be staying in that nice room tonight so we can have another little chat over breakfast, hmmm?"

Tennpenny held out a key to her. "There's a balcony entrance to the room over that way,", he said, pointing. "I'll give it some thought tonight. I'll let the guards know you're staying." Sally smiled, taking the key. "Come on, Charon,", she said, leading the way around the balcony.

The night was long for Tennpenny as he considered what he was up against. It wasn't just the girl. He knew who she was and what she had accomplished. If anything happened to her while she was in his tower he would have to take on wasteland justice, and it could be extreme. She had a lot of friends and a lot of people who owed her. No, better to accept her terms and let the Mercs take care of the problem. Besides, he respected her and hoped eventually he could get her to come around to his side and see the wasteland needed to be under their control. As far as the world would know, they had just become friends. She wasn't likely to tell anyone she was blackmailing him. He finally fell asleep, satisfied it was the right decision.

The morning dawned dull and gray, a bit of a disappointment to Sally who had hoped to watch a glorious sunrise from the height of the tower. After a leisurely breakfast and a long discussion with her new 'friend' she left to take care of trading in the stores. The proprietors had been warned she was a guest of Mr. Tennpenny and treated her with more respect.

That issue settled, Sally headed into the tunnels to discuss some business with Roy, the head of the ghouls. She had no intention of taking sides in their controversy. She had evaluated this situation and felt there could be no peaceful solution here so she kept her options open for dealing with both sides. After a less than satisfactory meeting with the stubborn ghoul she decided to head down South to see what she could find, then at some point cut across East to Rivet City. She hadn't seen Dad since the wedding and they had some catching up to do.

Chapter 11

It took three days to make the trip to Rivet City due to Sally's proclivity for checking out every structure she caught sight of. Once their packs were full and they couldn't carry any more salvage they made much better time as she simply passed up areas she would explore later. No point in wasting time.

They arrived at Rivet City a few hours before the market closed so Sally made that her first stop. She unloaded much of the salvage, bought ammo, and left her favorite sniper rifle to be repaired. It wasn't dinner time yet so Sally figured her parents would be in the science lab. After cleaning up in the public restrooms they went on down to see them. "Hey, Dad, Madison.", Sally greeted them as she entered the lab.

Dad looked up from his work. "Hey, Sally, Charon. You're looking healthy.", he said. Sally laughed. "Charon takes good care of me, don't you Charon?", she teased. Madison chuckled. "Good to see you, Sally. How's scavenging been?", she asked. "Oh, we've done pretty good lately. We got a lot of good stuff from Paradise Falls." "Isn't that the slaver camp?", she asked, alarmed. "It used to be. It's pretty empty now.", Sally said modestly.

"Sally, I need to talk to you. I'm going to need your help with the Project.", Dad said. "Sure, Dad, what do you need me to do?", Sally asked. "We need to get back into the Memorial. It's still pretty dangerous, so we're going to need you to make sure it's safe. There will be some work needs done in the lower regions, too, and we know they're full of dangerous creatures. Are you up to it?" Sally laughed. "It's what I do, Dad, of course I'll help. How about we get some dinner now and a good night's sleep? It'll be a busy day tomorrow."

It was indeed a busy day. Sally watched the sunrise from the platform before heading over to the Memorial. It took her and Charon a couple of hours to clear the remaining mutants from the Memorial. Then she went back and escorted the small science party to the Memorial to begin their work.

She was sent first to a lower level to get the power back on. This didn't require much effort on her part as no dangerous creatures seemed to be in residence. After reporting her success to her Dad over the intercom she was instructed to go further down to make some repairs. There were a few raiders living there, but it didn't take much to take care of them. Once that was done her Dad called her back to the control tower where he was working.

Dad was fiddling with some controls. He looked up as she came in. "The readings indicate that the water isn't going to drain properly. There seems to be a gate that won't open. I need you to go into the sewer and repair the control to that gate. There's just one thing, once you get in there you have to go the whole way through it, the gates are one way. You should be able to get out in the room just below the main floor. When that's done we can have the pipe repaired and hooked up properly for a continuous flow."

"Okay, that doesn't sound too bad. Probably not much living in there but maybe some radroaches. Where can I find the entrance?", Sally inquired. "Just go down the hall to the end to that fallen in room there. There's a manhole you can get in to access the sewer line. The damaged control shouldn't be far from it."

Sally didn't have any trouble finding the manhole. She and Charon dropped into the sewer and made their way forward. It was lit with dim, flickering overhead lights, sufficient to see what they were doing. It didn't take long to find the damaged control and fix it. They started on down the pipe toward the exit.

Sally stopped, suddenly alert to the whirring sound echoing in the sewer pipe. "Vertibirds!", she whispered. She glanced worriedly at Charon then hurried forward. The Enclave was invading. She slowed and approached the end of the pipe slowly, alert for any sign of trouble. She hugged the wall of the pipe, peering around the end, taking stock of her situation. The pipe ended in the wall, about 10 feet above the floor of a room. Across the room, almost 30 feet away, a cage enclosed a walkway. On the walkway was Enclave soldiers.

Sally considered her options. The pipe had one-way grates in it, there was no going back. She pulled out her sniper rifle and edged around the wall. Taking aim she managed to hit a soldier twice before he could react, injuring him even in his power armor. She snarled as Charon shoved in front of her, finishing the soldier with his shotgun, but getting in her line of fire. The other soldier had opened fire, hitting Charon. Sally quickly took aim and fired, once, twice, three times. The soldier backed off, but she could tell he wasn't down. She couldn't go out there until he was dead, she would be a sitting duck. She took a grenade from her belt and lobbed it as far as she could. It barely made it across, but it drew the soldier out. The bark of Charon's shot gun put an end to the situation.

Sally didn't hesitate. She leapt from the opening to the floor below and headed for the stairs to the main floor, Charon right behind her. They maneuvered their way toward the rotunda, taking out Enclave soldiers as they went.

Sally pushed open the door and headed up the stairs. Madison was standing near the top, listening to a speaker next to the rotunda. She motioned for Sally to be quiet. She slipped up the stairs to stand beside her step mother.

Dad was in the rotunda, being confronted by two Enclave soldiers and Captain Autumn, who held a pistol on him. One of his assistants was standing beside her father. Sally felt the anger begin in her gut at the sight of the man who had taken her captive. He was ordering her Dad to turn over all research on Project Purity. "It wouldn't do you any good.", Dad was saying. "It doesn't work." "Then I will need you and your research team to work on it for me.", the Captain said. "I couldn't do that..", Dad started to protest. Captain Autumn swung the pistol and shot the assistant, swinging it back to cover Dad in one smooth arc. "All right, there's no need for more violence.", Dad said hurriedly. "Just let me get my notes." He moved over to the computer.

A sudden alarm blasted through the rotunda. Dr. Weston crumpled to the floor. "Dad!", Sally cried, starting forward. A strong hand grasped her wrist. "No.", Charon said firmly. Madison gasped. "James!", she cried. She turned to Sally. "We have to get out of here. We can't help James, he's dead already. He filled the control room with radiation. There's nothing we can do for him, but we have to get the team out of here before they're taken captive too. Follow me." She turned and hurried away. Charon shoved her gently after the doctor. Stunned, Sally followed.

The main rooms were empty of guards as none had yet replaced all the ones Sally and Charon had killed. Madison paid no attention to them after a quick glance, gathering together the small team and heading to the tunnels.

At the entrance to the Taft tunnels Madison turned to Sally. "Listen, Sally, I know your hurting now, but you've got to help us. The Enclave has the front sealed tight. The only way out is through these tunnels, but it's too dangerous for us to do it alone. None of us know how to fight. You've got to get us through here. It opens out at a grate near the Citadel and we can get cover there if we can make it through. Will you do this for us, for your father?"

Sally rallied. This was something she understood. "Yes.", she said. "But you'll have to listen to me. I can't protect you if you won't follow my lead." "Okay, we will.", Madison said. "Go on, we'll follow you." Sally un-shouldered her combat rifle and opened the door to the tunnel.

The first section was clear and they traversed it fairly quickly. Sally started up a set of stairs when some slight noise, some disturbance caused her to pause. "Wait here.", she said. Madison wasn't happy but she agreed. Sally and Charon crept up the stairs. At the top they scanned the room. It seemed to be empty. What had disturbed her? They stepped into the room. Across the room a set of metal stairs led to a landing with more stairs going up from the landing into a doorway.

They moved across the room, scanning for danger. They slipped up the stairs. As they reached the landing a hail of gunfire caused her to whirl and leap. Across the room, above the doorway they had entered through, a catwalk traversed the length of the room. Enclave soldiers were on the catwalk. Sally quickly judged the distance. Her combat rifle wasn't going to be effective. She whipped out a grenade from her belt and lobbed it at the catwalk, even as Charon let out a volley. While the soldiers were distracted by Charon's fire she jerked out her sniper rifle and sighted in. It took several shots aided by an occasional hit from Charon to get through the power armor, but finally the soldiers fell.

Sally assessed the damage she had taken. The suit was damaged, but then it had been anyway from the previous fights. She had taken several rounds and some had made it through the suit, but none seemed to have imbedded deeply enough to cause severe bleeding or be disabling. She injected a stimpack to stop the pain from the many wounds and turned to Charon. She quickly assessed his condition and made sure he was fully functional and in no pain. They went on up the stairs.

Some ghouls attacked them on the stairwell, but they were average ghouls and presented no problem. The dead Enclave soldier lying in the hall above was a problem though. Sally doubted these ordinary ghouls had killed a fully armored, well trained soldier. There must be more deadly threats in the area.

They moved on down the hall, dispatching a few more ghouls, but coming across nothing more deadly. When they came to a closed door, Sally decided the hall was safe enough and went back for the team. She didn't like leaving them alone for long. "Wait.", Madison said. "We have to rest." "Why?", Sally asked. "It isn't safe, we have to move as quickly as we can." "It's Garza, he has a heart condition and I don't have any of his meds. If we go too fast it could kill him. He's got to rest." "Isn't there anything we can do?", Sally asked worriedly. "If I had stimpacks he could make it. We could get him treatments at the Citadel then, but I don't have any." "How many do you need?", Sally asked, opening her pack. "Five should be enough." Sally handed over the stimpacks and waited impatiently while Madison treated Garza.

They made it through the hall but Sally was still leery about what had killed the soldier, and was uneasy about what might be on the other side of the door. She had them wait while she went to scout out the area. The team members were armed and could probably defend themselves from the ordinary ghouls they had encountered so far, but she had Charon stay with them to make sure they would be safe.

Weapons ready, Sally activated the door and scanned inside. The passageway seemed clear. She moved on down the hall. On the left a short hall led to a barricade, behind which a Brotherhood soldier patrolled. This would be the way out to the Citadel. Further down the hall on the right was a closed door. This bothered Sally. Anything could come out from behind the door.

She waved at the guard and moved over to the closed door. Carefully she opened it and slipped inside. She was standing on the top landing of a set of stairs, but below she could see the ghouls moving about. These weren't ordinary ghouls. They were Roamers and Reapers, the toughest of the ghoul breed. A Reaper was as strong and deadly as a Super mutant Master, and there seemed to be several down there.

Sally holstered her rifle quietly, so as not to draw attention to her presence. She pulled mines from her pack and began backing out, arming and placing them as she went out of the room and down the hall. Then she went back in and flung a mine onto the second landing followed immediately by one on the stairs leading up to the landing she was standing on. This drew their attention all right. They headed toward her.

Sally turned and ran, past her mines, down the hall toward the closed door. She could hear the explosions and growls, the screams behind her. Near the end of the hall she whirled, holding the flamer she had taken from her pack. Two Reamers were still coming. She hit the first one and it fell screaming in the flames. The second was nearly on top of her. She hit it with the fire, and it flamed but kept on coming. She backed up, still flaming, trying to stay out of its reach. A claw reached out from the flames and seared across her abdomen. She was trapped against the back wall! She kept firing as the creature swiped at her again, but she managed to dodge, even with the heavy weight of the flamer. The creature finally fell in a heap of burning debris. Sally lowered the almost empty flamer and let it drop. She was injured now, for sure, but there didn't seem to be any other creatures emerging from the room.

Pulling out her Combat Rifle she strode down the hall past the bodies and into the room. She was careful going down the stairs, alert to danger, but nothing remained alive. At the bottom of the stairs she found two rooms. Taking some of the more valuable items she stuffed them in her pack and went back to the scientists, still waiting behind the closed door. She led them out toward the Brotherhood, Charon still mingling amongst them.

Sally had almost reached the barricade when the warning shouts and gunfire caused her to whirl about. More Roamer ghouls had appeared and were attacking her party! She plunged into the melee, firing desperately. The Brotherhood knight's fire was added to the bark of Charon's shotgun, the shouts and screams of the party and ghouls, the pop of 10mm pistols. At last the melee ended and Sally looked about. No ghoul moved. She gathered her party and did a quick check. They had all made it, even Garza, who had managed to survive the excitement in spite of his heart.

Sally herded her small group past the Brotherhood barricade and down the last small section of hall to the ladder leading to a sewer grate. The grate opened onto the wasteland a short distance from the Citadel. It took only a few minutes for the tired party to walk to the gate, where Brotherhood knights guarded the closed entrance. The nearest knight stopped the little party.

"You can't come in here.", he said sternly. "Do you know who I am? Let us in!", Dr Li stormed angrily. "I can't do that. Just move along.", the guard responded. Dr. Li strode to the intercom and activated it. "Owyn Lyons! This is Madison! You let us in now, you hear me?", she demanded. A voice came over the intercom. "Let Dr. Li and her party enter.", it said. The knight shrugged and opened the gate, watching the party curiously.

They strode tiredly through the open gate. Dr. Li introduced the party members to Elder Lyons, the commander of the garrison, who was waiting inside the gate. He offered them the sanctuary of the Citadel. Sally was happy to allow herself to be escorted to the barracks where she could clean up, have a decent meal, and get some sleep.

Sally was alone in her grief. Madison seemed to be in a state of shock, not able or willing to help Sally grieve for her father. Charon simply didn't understand grief, or grieving for the dead. She wandered about the Citadel, asking questions, looking for any distraction from her thoughts. At her request the elder had authorized her training in power armor use. She had learned quickly, her natural abilities making her a quick study.

From the Brotherhood scientists she learned about the GECK. It was a device, supposedly distributed among some vaults, that once activated would produce life from nothing. They weren't sure any existed, but it was believed that it could be the one missing item that could power the purifier and make it work. Sally remembered her father mentioning this device.

Records indicated that one might exist in vault 87, but it couldn't be entered directly through the vault entrance due to the extreme radiation in the area. It was known that there were two alternate entries blown into the damaged vault and open to the caverns now known as Little Lamplight. Now that she knew that Vault 87 could be accessed through Little Lamplight, she realized she already knew how to get there. She had dealt with the kids before.

After a week at the Citadel Sally's injuries were well on the way to healing and she had accomplished all she could here. She hadn't brought many items worth trading and the Brotherhood hadn't offered to replenish her supplies. She was low on resources and just wanted to go home. They would have to make the trip to vault 87, she knew that, but Megaton was on the way, and they could just stop there to recoup and organize before heading west. She could resupply when she reached home. Everyone makes mistakes.

The morning was gloomy and overcast, threatening snow. It was normally onl hour walk to home, but Sally felt depressed and tired. They set out in the cold of the early dawn. The first part of the trip through the city was accomplished with little effort. Sally trudged wearily, not even quarrelling at Charon when he barged ahead to start a confrontation with a super mutant. She simply pulled out her combat shotgun and helped finish the argument.

The old lady wasn't in at the wharf so they didn't stop. Too bad, Sally could have used a warm drink. They moved on out of the city and past the Super Duper Mart, heading into the wasteland. Suddenly Sally went on alert. There was something up ahead that had never been there before. She stopped and pulled out her sniper rifle, sighting in on the object. It appeared to be a camp, and she could see a couple of Enclave guards lounging alertly near it.

Just what she needed. The Enclave had set up a camp on her usual route to home from the city. She sighed. The snow had started to swirl in fits and gusts around them as she considered if they should just try to go around. But the grief and anger in her wouldn't let her. They had killed her Dad. They killed civilians, even children. No one should kill children! No, she would have to deal with them.

Motioning to Charon to stay behind her, she crouched and moved stealthily toward the camp. Sally had taken grenades from her belt. The guards were pretty close together, and she could hear sounds from behind the metal barrier. Suddenly she stood and lobbed two grenades in quick succession toward the guards, hurling two more over the barrier. Even as the grenades landed she whipped out her combat rifle.

Charon was already charging forward when the guards opened up. Caught by the shrapnel from the grenades and already wounded, they didn't last long against Sally and Charon's deadly aim. No sound came from behind the barrier, but Sally heard screams from up the hill. Leaving Charon to look for any signs of life she plunged up the hill to find a scientist running for her life from the camp. Sally dispassionately shot her in the back, turned and went back into the camp.

A table in a tent, with surgical instruments nearby, confirmed her opinion the doctor hadn't been an innocent victim. She had probably tortured many an innocent victim in the name of science. Sally grimly walked about the camp making sure there were no survivors. A flickering monitor caught her attention and she spent some time hacking into the computer. As she had suspected this turned out to be a field camp for the surveying and studying of wasteland animals. Any human who got in the way would be collateral damage.

A noise from a large structure caught her attention. She wandered over and stared at the enclosure, listening. "There's a Deathclaw in there.", Charon said. "Yeah.", she responded. Now why was the Enclave capturing Deathclaws? She shrugged mentally and turned away. She was too tired and hurt to care and she certainly wasn't going to free the thing. "Put it down,", she told Charon as she walked away. No need to leave it to starve to death.

Charon observed her slight limp. "You are wounded?", he asked. "I'll be fine, it's not too deep, I think. I put a hemostatic on it, it doesn't seem to be bleeding now." Charon frowned but Sally didn't ask for his advice, so he refrained from asking why she didn't take a Stimpak to stop the pain. It had to be hurting bad.

Charon helped her sort and store the spoils. There were several crates so that wasn't a problem. They took all the ammo and a plasma rifle but other than that the only thing Sally handed him was a uniform she removed from one of the larger guards. His was getting beat up and she would use one to repair the other so he had good armor. She was disappointed they hadn't found any medical supplies.

The snow was starting to fall in earnest now and even in good weather it would take another hour to make the trek over the hill to Megaton. Taking up their packs they headed out in the gloom of the late, snowy evening.

The heavily falling snow deadened sound and limited visibility. They didn't see the giant albino radscorpion until it came around the boulder, directly in front of Charon. It swung its huge stinger at him. Charon barely had time to react, hurling himself sideways, hitting the ground hard, the shotgun knocked from his hand. As he scrambled for the gun the beast swung at him again. Sally screamed, running toward them. She didn't have time to take any more powerful weapon from her pack. She pulled her assault rifle from its scabbard as she ran, firing into the beast.

It missed Charon a second time as Sally came right up on it, firing into it. It turned and swung at her. She ducked and ran, leading the creature off. She jerked out grenades as she ran, but she could hear it gaining on her. Charon's shotgun was barking loudly, he had retrieved it and was firing rapidly. She whirled. It was too close! If she tried to use a grenade the blast would kill her. She ducked as the creature's stinger swung at her, but her wounded leg gave out from the stress and she couldn't get out of the way. It hit with the force of a shotgun blast, cutting through her armor, hurtling her to the ground.

The poison slammed through her system like a stream of fire. Even as the stinger swung her way again the shotgun blast slammed through the creature and it dropped lifeless. Sally staggered to her feet. She had taken the blow in her abdomen and it was bleeding profusely. She swayed, the poison leaching her ability to stagger forward. She fell heavily.

Sally cried out in pain as Charon lifted her up, leaning her back against the rock. Her breath labored, she gasped, "I'm sorry, Charon, I can't go any further. I can't get up." "You need meds. Let me get a stimpack from your pack." "I don't have any.", she whispered painfully. "I don't have any healing meds left." She struggled out of the pack and opened it, taking out her last unit of blood. He watched her drink it. Since she had taken the vampire training it held some healing power for her, though it wouldn't be enough, and it wouldn't do anything for the pain.

He knelt over her. "Why?", he asked. "Why did you draw it off me? I'm supposed to guard you, why did you save me?"

Sally struggled to get something from her pocket. "Here.", her voice was strained with the effort to talk and breathe. "Take your contract. You can walk away if you want to. If I die, don't sell it, don't give it away, keep it. You'll be free." Charon slowly took the document. Had she not given it to him, it would have gone to her heir, her step mother, when she died. The radscorpion poison was taking its toll on top of the wounds she had received.

"You need help.", he said expressionlessly, stuffing the contract in his pocket. Sally didn't answer. She had lost her struggle to stay conscious. If he walked away now she would die and he would be a free man by her decree. She had given him a choice to make.

Charon lifted her and started toward Megaton. Hopefully she would still be alive. He didn't want to think what would happen to a ghoul if he carried in a dead human woman.

Charon was sitting in the bar in Megaton. Sally now rested in Doc Church's office. He had grumbled that he was going to start charging her rent if she was going to live there. Sally would have been amused if she'd been awake to hear it.

Charon was sitting in the bar listening to Gob chatting about the news on the stupid radio station again. He was as proud of Sally's exploits as he would have been if he had done them himself. They called her 'The Kid from Vault 101'. Sally didn't act like she cared, but then why had she spent so much money on the radio she kept always on in her home? They had already exchanged gossip about the Museum residents and Charon was considering retiring to the house he shared with Sally.

The Simm's boy came in and approached him. "Mr. Charon.", he said. "Doc sent me to tell you Sally's awake. He wants you to come get her." Charon had never learned the niceties of human interactions. He rose and left the bar without comment.

Charon helped Sally off the bed and gathered her personal items. "Thank you, Charon.", she said quietly. She had been at the clinic for nearly a week. Dr. Church was concerned at how fast she healed from wounds that should have taken weeks or even months to recover from, or even been fatal. "Have you noticed any patches of dry skin?", he asked. "Not more than you would expect from my job. It's always an issue with the wind and dry tunnels and all. I've found this woman, over by Grayditch, she makes a lotion from mole rat fat and some wasteland flower, it works pretty good. I should have a trader stop there.", she said with a speculative gleam in her eye.

Doc shook his head. "If you do notice anything let me know." Sally looked at him thoughtfully. "If you're concerned I'm turning into a ghoul, don't worry about it. It's been a long time now and I'm not showing any signs, but if it happens there's nothing you can do about it anyway." Doc knew she was right, but he couldn't feel she was as unconcerned as she made out.

She paid the doctor, which took a good deal of the caps they had earned on this trip. "She needs to take it easy for at least another week.", the doctor told Charon. "She never listens to me. Maybe she'll listen to you." Charon just stood, quietly waiting for her to finish her business. Why would the doctor think he had anything to say about what his employer could do? Sally just laughed. "See you, Doc.", she said, heading for the door. "Not too soon, I hope.", he growled.

Sally sat in her chair, restlessly trying to read a book. She enjoyed reading, but it had been nearly 5 days now and she was bored. They had cleaned for the last two days, much to Charon's chagrin, as he didn't like cleaning much. The house was neat and all the dishes and clothing were clean, their armor and weapons were repaired and ready for action. Sally had visited with all the residents and conducted business in the bar and trading post. She didn't have anything left to do.

"Charon.", she said suddenly, looking up. "Why didn't you just walk off?" "What?", he asked, taken off guard. "Why didn't you just leave me? You'd be a free man if you had just walked off." "You didn't answer my question.", he said simply. Sally blinked, then started laughing. "You saved my life to answer your question? Why?" "Because I want to know. Why did you risk your life for me?"

Sally considered how she could explain this. "You risk your life for me because you are conditioned to do it. It's in your contract. You don't care about me, it's just you don't have a choice. But I care about you. I have a choice, and I've chosen to not let you do this for me anymore. It would hurt me if you died. I just can't seem to teach you to take your time, approach an enemy slowly, hide when you can, run when you can. You just run in firing, and you're gonna get yourself killed, and maybe me trying to keep you from getting killed. You're a good man, Charon, I don't want you to die on account of me."

She rose from her chair and took the contract from the locker where she had put it. "I've figured out what the difference is between you and a slave.", she said, tapping the contract on her hand. "A slave is held by physical force, a slave collar or other form of punishment. It has no loyalty to its owner and would run if it could. You're held by your sense of honor to this contract. You could leave and your employer wouldn't be able to stop you, but you won't. You're loyal to your word, and this contract is your word." He didn't reply, wondering where this was going.

"Do you keep track of your kills?", she asked. "Yes.", he said. "Hmm, yeah, I do too. So how many of my enemies have you killed for me?" He did a quick check. "Twenty six. I don't count the Enclave guy since you didn't want him killed." "I see. The going rate seems to be 100 caps per kill with the mercenaries. So that would come to 2600 caps. You're contract cost me 2000 caps, so that is what I am charging for it. It's worth every cap too." She took out her money bag and counted out 600 caps. "Here.", she said, handing them to him with the contract. "After I take out the 2000 for the contract that leaves 600 caps. You've bought your own contract, Charon. You're free to do what you want now."

He looked at the contract in his hand. "You want me to leave?", he asked. "I think that would be best. We've been together over a year now. I think I know you well enough that I can tell you I think you need some time on your own to figure out what you want. Ghouls can live a long time, Charon, make it count for you, not someone else. Take your favorite Enclave armor. Since I didn't pay for that kill that's all yours. Take any weapons, food, meds and ammo you want too, consider it a bonus for a job well done. I can always find more.", she grinned.

They spent the rest of the evening sorting items, deciding what Charon would need to take with him. Sally wouldn't let him go without sufficient supplies. They went to their rooms early as they had said all they needed to say to each other. They stood on the deck of the little house and watched the sunrise before Charon said his goodbyes and walked off. Sally wondered sadly if she would ever see him again.

Charon stepped out the gate into the brilliant morning sunshine. Sally cared about him. No one had ever cared before, not even his own parents. He started down the path then hesitated. Walking over to Micky, he took a bottle of purified water from his pack and handed it to him. Micky took it, too astounded to do more than stutter his thanks. The ghoul considered him for a moment and then strode off.

Chapter 12

Sally was alone again. She was pretty sure Charon wouldn't be coming back on his own. She had healed well and felt fine, so even though it had only been 6 days since she had left Doc's office, she decided it was time to go. She had to go back to Little Lamplight and find the entrance to Vault 87. It was up to her now to see her Dad hadn't died for nothing. She would do her best to help complete the project that had consumed his life.

Losing Charon affected Sally more than she thought it would. She missed him, especially now as she trekked across the wasteland toward Little Lamplight. She had become more dependent on his vigilance than she had realized. Maybe it was for the best, she had become somewhat lax, now she was forced to be constantly aware of everything around her. She was on a mission so she tried not to stray too far from a straight line, but her insatiable curiosity led her to exam interesting objects.

She arrived at Little Lamplight with nearly full packs. The kids were happy to trade for the meds and food Sally brought them, and they could always use weapons and ammo. She tried to give the kids a fair deal, but she never lost caps on the trades as the fungus that was their main product had proven to have a number of valuable uses in the wasteland.

The kids warned against going into the vault, or into the pass leading to the vault. It was inhabited with monsters. Big, vicious monsters that were hard to kill. It took Sally some persuading but the mayor finally agreed to let her try to get in. She just had to get Jason to restore power to the terminal at the other entrance so she wouldn't have to go through Murder pass.

Sally stopped at the lockers and unloaded her pack of everything she probably wouldn't need. She left behind all the outfits she normally carried for various occasions, keeping only the armor and helmet she was wearing. All misc items went in the locker, along with weapons that would be useless against creatures as strong as the ones she expected to encounter. Overkill was better than being killed.

Having lightened her load she went to the odd looking structure Jason had indicated was the way into the vault. Jason had done his job and restored power to the computer, now he left, wishing her luck. No one had been able to hack into the computer before.

Sally climbed the metal stairs and entered the odd room. It had a large machine in the middle, with four objects extending from it, looking like some kind of conductors that would spark with power if they were working. They weren't. A large rusty metal door was in the end of the small, otherwise empty, room. Sally approached it and saw that it was sealed. A computer terminal flickered nearby. She was getting better with hacking into them, it only took three tries. The door unlocked and she activated the switch. With a grinding of long unused gears the door slid open.

Sally entered the room cautiously, letting the heavy door swing shut behind her. It wasn't a large room but it had the same odd looking appliance in the middle. A sign said reactor room. This one still seemed to be generating power. There was low fluorescent lighting still on, flickering in the room, making it gloomy and spooky. Trash littered the floor, and objects were strewn everywhere. A typical abandoned looking area. She checked in some of the containers and found a few useful items, but she didn't take anything. She had to stay light. She'd scavenge when she left if she got the chance.

A single door led from the room. Noises on the other side alerted her that she wasn't alone in here. She hadn't expected to be. The kids said there were monsters and she didn't doubt that for one minute. The question was what kind of monsters.

She crept forward, combat rifle at the ready and peered around the door. A hallway led off to the right but appeared to end in a damaged wall with just a shallow rocky cave beyond. It didn't appear inhabited. A few radroaches scurried about, feeding off of dismembered bodies. She stomped or slugged them whenever they came near as they would attack and had a nasty bite. She didn't want to shoot them as that might draw attention to her presence.

She was more concerned with the partial corpses that indicated something big and viscous lived here. She simply ignored the ancient skeletons littering the floor, walking over them as so much debris.

Off to the left a short hallway led to a set of stairs going up. The noises were coming from that direction. Sally moved toward them as quietly as she could. She stopped, listening. One of the voices was saying to his fellow that he had to 'collect more green goo' so 'they could make more brothers, strong warriors to destroy the humans, haha, they crushed the humans, made the warriors from them'. Interesting, she wondered what that meant. She heard one moving off, the other coming toward her.

The big super mutant that appeared at the top of the stairs seemed startled, but only momentarily. However it was enough. Sally drew bead and blasted him with the combat rifle. He tumbled down the stairs with barely a grunt. She quickly reloaded. She could hear the shout of another, alerted by the sound of gun fire and crashing. He blasted into the top of the stairs fully prepared to kill. "I see you", he shouted angrily, rushing her. She didn't hesitate to fill him full of lead. A quick check assured he had been armed only with a sledge hammer. Good luck for her, he probably could have killed her if he had a rifle. He at least would have slowed her down.

She still had plenty of ammo but checked the other mutie anyway, and was pleased to find some more 556m for her assault rifle. She left the mutie's rifle, it would just get in her way. She reloaded before stalking quietly down the hall toward the open door on the far side. A lesson she had learned the hard way: always reload as soon as possible after a battle, even if you hadn't used all the ammo in the clip.

Sally moved quickly through the level, taking out super mutants as she went. She came on them only one or two at a time. Though a lot bigger, stronger, and tougher, they didn't seem any better organized or intelligent than raiders, making it a lot easier for her to use stealth and tactics to take them down. As she moved, she took nothing that wouldn't help her in battle: ammo, meds, grenades.

She didn't have too much difficulty until the second level when she looked around the door into a large room and spotted the Super Mutant Overlord. She knew immediately what it was. This was going to be difficult, but at least she hadn't run into a Behemoth yet.

The room was long and large with a fair amount of debris littering the center and edges. It might once have been a store room. A door ran off to her right, another straight across the room opened onto darkness. Catwalks ran down both sides of the room at least 15 feet in the air. She could make out a figure on the one on the right of the room. She suspected the door on the right gave access to it.

The Overlord was in a room going off to the left. She could see it through the big window that looked out onto the room. He was pacing back and forth, appearing in the doorway, then the window. He was big and mean, and she knew they were far tougher than the run-of-mill mutants she had been dealing with, and usually better armed too.

A motion toward the back of the room caught her attention and she realized another mutie had entered from the back. Goodie, she needed a bigger challenge, she thought sourly. She considered her options. If she could lure the mutie in the room back into this room she could take him out without alarming the others. If she then sniped the one on the catwalk, perhaps she could get him before the Overlord reacted.

Sally took out her mines and counted them. She only had 7 on her. Mines could be effective against Overlords if used properly. She replaced them in her pack. Moving to the back of the room, she made small whimpering and scratching sounds. Noises that would be made by injured prey, sure to catch the attention of a predator. Sure enough the mutie in the room, who had moved toward the front, caught the slight sounds and came to investigate. Sally crouched, waiting until he was almost upon her, then raised her combat rifle and took him square in the face. He fell heavily forward. A quick search netted her nothing useful.

She crept up to the doorway again and peered in. The others hadn't been alarmed. Moving as slowly and carefully as she could she crept toward the doorway where the Overlord still paced, muttering to himself. She was careful to go completely motionless when he neared the doorway, and to stay in cover from the line of sight of the one on the catwalk. She placed an armed mine as close to the doorway as she dared, then backed toward the hall, placing three more mines in the most direct path as she went. Muties always took a direct path to their objective.

Safely back in the doorway, she pulled her sniper rifle from the pack, placing her favored combat rifle in its scabbard on her back where it would be easily accessed. She waited for the mutie on the catwalk to walk to the end nearest her, then fired at his head. She missed, hitting him in the shoulder. He roared, looking around for the source. She quickly fired 2 more times. He dropped onto the catwalk and didn't move. Surprisingly the Overlord didn't seem to notice, but it was a very large room and he was in a separate area. He still paced in his room.

She replaced the sniper rifle in her pack. It wouldn't do much good against an Overlord. Pulling a grenade from her belt she slipped out into the room and waited until she saw the Overlord in the doorway. She hurled the grenade into the doorway and ran back into the room. She was sure he had seen her. The explosion of the grenade shook the room, followed almost immediately by the blast of a mine going off. She was sure he was after her. She ran toward the back of the room, whirled and tossed another grenade as the huge creature burst through the door. The blast knocked the assault rifle from his hands. He was now badly injured and moving slowly.

She raised her combat rifle and fired into him until the clip ran dry, then whirled and ran into the hall, down the stairs. She turned, grenade in hand, waiting. She didn't hear any pursuit. She cautiously climbed the stairs, hesitating at the top, peering down the hall. A big figure lay on the floor. She approached slowly, keeping the grenade ready, but the figure didn't move. Finally she knelt by the Overlord and searched the body. She was rewarded with more ammo for her combat rifle, which was good since she had used so much to take him down.

The big room was deserted now. Should she go up onto the catwalk, or out the door on the far side? According to the signs this floor held living quarters. This wasn't what she was looking for. The Overlord's room was still burning from the grenade. Sally disarmed and recovered the two remaining mines and decided to try out the catwalk. Now that she knew Overlords and Brutes inhabited the upper reaches, she was pretty sure a combat rifle wasn't going to keep her alive. She pulled out the heavy flamer and headed out the door to the right.

Sally moved cautiously up the stairwell listening intently for any sound from above. She peered around the door, scanning the empty hallway. Moving swiftly out she slid into the nearest door and found herself on the catwalk. She walked along the walk, observing the catwalk opposite, connected by two metal walkways.

Suddenly a mutant appeared in a doorway opposite and spotted her. Yelling loudly it began to fire at her, other mutants joining it as Sally hurried off the catwalk, back into the hall. She knew the mutants were coming after her. There was no time for mines. Holding her ground she waited for one to appear in the doorway, then hit the flamer. The mutant screamed, whirling to fire at her, another right behind. The flamer hit them both, dropping them before they could fasten on her. She leapt forward and flamed at a third mutant right behind the first ones.

Having dispatched the current danger she hurried across the catwalk and into the hall. Signs pointed the way to the science labs. This was more likely to have what she was looking for, or at least have some information she could use to find it.

Sally grumbled as she tried the chief physician's computer again. It was taking her an inordinately long time to hack into it, but she wasn't giving up. She tried again, and was finally rewarded with 'correct password'. The screen came up to a science log. She read all the entries on the FEV. She was learning about the origins of the mutants.

They were creatures crafted by man himself, using something called a FEV. It seemed the FEV was still here in the vault, and from her remembered conversation between the muties, they were using it and some green glop stuff to create more muties. Oh, Joy. She needed to put a stop to that. She would have to take the FEV, whatever that was, as well as the GECK, if she could find it. She shut down the computer and searched the room for anything to aid her quest.

She came up empty. No clues anywhere. She had been in all the labs and hacked the computers, but the location of the GECK or FEV wasn't mentioned. There was a large data base on all the experiments, but she didn't have the time to research the victims, interesting though it might be. Disgruntled she peered out into the hall to see if it was clear. She quickly slipped out and headed for the stairwell going up toward the containment units.

A large super mutant greeted her at the top of the stairs with a hail of bullets. Flinging herself forward she quickly flamed the creature, stopping the potentially deadly attack. She moved cautiously down the hall, sweeping the area ahead, moving cautiously around corners so as not to be taken by surprise. The hall she was going down had open doors on each side, each appearing to be a cell, many containing twisted, obviously failed experiments, all dead. She strove to keep from gagging at the violent stench.

As she rounded a corner into another hall of cells, Sally was taken by surprise. A deep, guttural voice called out, "Who's there? Is there someone there? Help me. Please help me." Sally went still. The voice called again, "Someone? Anyone? Is anyone there?". Then it went quiet. Sally slowly moved toward a closed cell, curious. It sounded like a super mutant, but she had never heard one talk like that before.

The cell door was locked. The mutant inside was obviously trapped, no danger to her. She peered in the window. He was big, even for a super mutant. Oddly, he appeared to be wearing the remnants of a uniform, much too small, he was bursting from it. She had never seen mutants wearing anything but primitive coverings. He looked back at her, appearing almost desperate. "Help me, please,", he said. "I'm a prisoner here. Please let me out."

Sally considered the big creature. The speaker beside the door was allowing him to communicate with her. She pushed the intercom. "Who are you?", she asked. "Why do they have you prisoner? You don't sound like the others." "I'm not like them. I think that's why they keep me alive, it fascinates them that I'm different, and they can't figure out why. The name's Fawkes. Are you going to let me out of here?"

"What kind of name is that?", Sally asked curiously. "Never mind the name, I just use it because it belonged to a man with courage willing to fight for what he believed in. I can tell you about that later, just get me out of here!" "Why should I?", Sally asked reasonably. "How do I know you won't kill me?" "I can't prove that, but I know why you're here. If you let me out, I'll help you get it, I promise." "Yeah? Why am I here then?", Sally asked. "You've come for the GECK. I know where it's at, but you can't get it. The place where it's at is full of radiation. You'd die, but I'm resistant, I could get it for you."

"I see.", Sally said thoughtfully. "Just keep in mind I've already killed a number of you to get here. If you try to attack me, I won't hesitate to kill you too." "Yes, yes, I'm sure. Just let me out. I'll help you kill them." "Okay, how do I do it? I can't open this door." "Go down the hall and around the corner. Down that hall is a maintenance room. Trip the fire alarm and the cells will open. Just know that some of the other cells have experiments in them too, and they're not going to be helpful. They'll try to kill you, so be ready.""No problem. I'll be right back.", Sally grinned, and hefting the flamer headed off down the hall.

She hadn't gone far when a super mutant and its pet centaur came around the corner. She had seen these animals before and knew they weren't particularly dangerous, but they spat a noxious fluid that could be quite painful. She flamed the mutant first, taking out its pet as well. The rest of the hall was clear. She entered the maintenance room and had no trouble locating the fire control panel. Hitting the alarm, she moved quickly out into the hall.

It took just a few minutes to clear out the other experiments, as there were only two. One appeared to be a human, and she hesitated, but he was clearly demented and attacked her as soon as he saw her, the other was a centaur. Sally wondered briefly what the super mutants were doing with them, but since she intended to kill all the mutants anyway, the experiments also had to go.

The big mutant was waiting for her when she returned. He had picked up a super sledge from the mutant Sally had killed. "I will keep my part of the bargain. Follow me.", he said and trudged off down the hall. They went through several halls and rooms, taking out several more mutants as they went. The big guy seemed viciously gleeful at killing those that had held him prisoner. Sally had to try to shoot around him to help take them down. To keep from hitting him, she switched to her combat rifle, dropping the nearly empty flamer.

Finally they came into a small room and the big mutant stopped. Sally could see through a doorway into an eerie hall, bathed in a greenish fog. "Wait here", he growled. He stepped into the hall. Always curious, Sally shoved her arm into the hall. The pip-boy screamed a warning. Jerking her arm back, she stared at the radiation reading. Maybe she would just wait, like he asked.

In a few minutes he was back, carrying a small box. "Don't try to open this.", he warned. "It'll kill you." Sally took the box. "Thank you.", she said. "What are you going to do now?" "I'm free. I'm going to get out of here and see what's out there. I have completed my promise to you, now I'm going to go. Maybe we will meet again sometime." "Maybe. Good luck out there. Safe travels, friend." "Friend.", he grinned. "Be safe. I will find my own way out."

Sally watched him walk off, then turned her attention to her vocation. She had what she had come for, now she could find items to pay for the trip. She started by checking out a computer in the room. She and the strange mutant had come through the halls so fast she hadn't had time to look at anything. This computer merely contained information on the maintenance problems that had resulted in the radiation in the next wing. She shut it down and searched some lockers. Not much here. Oh, well, she had an entire vault to go through.

She headed down the hall. Odd, she was sure they had left that door open. She opened the door and stepped into the next room. The ting, ting of a small metal object hitting the floor was her only warning. Sally had no time to react.

The world exploded around her in a flash of white light. She staggered and fell, her vision going blurry, clearly only briefly, just enough to make out the hated figure of Colonel Autumn bending over her. "Good, she's alive.", she heard him say through the haze. "Prepare her for transport. Make sure the GECK is secured on my vertibird." Then everything faded into darkness.

Sally struggled to open her eyes. She tried to move her arms, and felt oddly constrained. Light filtered into her peripheral vision, harsher, more glaring than the wasteland sunlight. She blinked and slowly focused on the figure standing before her. She tried to move, but found it difficult. Although she had on only her underwear she didn't feel cold.

"You're in a containment unit." It was Colonel Autumn's voice. She concentrated and the world came clear again. He was standing so close, but unreachable. She kept her face expressionless. "So, why did you bother to bring me here? Why aren't I dead?", she asked. "I think you know why.", he responded. "I want the code to activate Project Purity and you're going to give it to me." "Well, that was a waste of time then. I don't have the code."

The Colonel seemed mildly amused by her answer. "You know I'll get it out of you, don't you?", he said. "Well, yes, I know you can break me. With enough time and the right techniques you can break anyone. So I'd tell you if I knew. That's why I don't know. My Dad wasn't a fool you know. He knew you'd come after me sooner or later." "Your Dad would have told someone. If it wasn't you, who would it be?"

Sally shrugged. "I have no idea." The Colonel folded his arms and cocked his head. "Just what do you expect is going to happen here?", he asked curiously. "I expect", Sally said calmly, "I'm going to hurt. A lot. And then I'm going to die. But you still won't get what you want because I don't know. I'll probably tell you whatever I think you want, though, even if I have to make it up." "You don't seem to upset.", the Colonel observed.

"Well, I'm not looking forward to the hurting part for sure, but the dying, well, you don't do what I do if you're afraid of dying.", she said, her gaze even. "Ah, well, I can't take your word for it, you know, so we may as well get started.", the Colonel said, straightening. Sally quaked inwardly with fear. She closed her eyes and screamed as loudly as she could. The Colonel started.

"I haven't done anything yet!", he said. "What did you do that for?" "Anticipation, I guess.", she responded seriously. "I'm disappointed in you Sally. I thought you were braver than that." "Really? Why?", she asked curiously. "Well, because…". He hesitated. "You're stalling", he accused, scowling. "Yeah, wouldn't you?", she asked. He started toward her.

The voice broke in from the intercom. "Colonel, I want to see you in my office." The Colonel scowled at the intercom. "Now, sir?", he asked. "I was just about to interrogate the prisoner." "Yes, I want to see you now. Report to my office." "Yes, sir, President Eden, I'll be right there." He turned to Sally. "I won't be long. We'll take up where we left off.", he said with an unpleasant grin and left the room.

The voice continued, "I apologize for Colonel Autumn, Sally Weston. He gets a little aggressive sometimes. We need to have a face-to-face talk as we have much to discuss. I've released your containment field and you'll find all your possessions in the locker by the door. You're going to have to find your way to me on level 1. Try to hurry."

Sally stepped out of the unit and stretched. She carefully surveyed the room holding the containment unit. Other than the locker it was otherwise empty, though cameras followed her every move. She went over to the locker and pulled out her armor, slipping into it. She checked her weapons and strapped them on. Everything she had had on her still seemed to be there, so she flung her pack over her back and secured it. She tried the door, and finding it unlocked stepped into the hall.

"Hold it right there.", an authoritative voice demanded. Sally stopped. "What are you doing out here? You're supposed to be in containment. Get back in there, or I'll have to put you in there, alive or not." "I'm afraid I can't. President Eden has requested me to come to his office." "What?", the soldier exclaimed. "No one sees the President. You better get back in there." "Okay", Sally responded. "But maybe you should check. You don't want to keep me if he's expecting me, do you?" The soldier wavered uncertainly. "All right, but don't move while I check." He went over to an intercom.

"President Eden, sir, the prisoner says she is supposed to come to your office.", he said into the intercom. "Who said you could contact me?", the President snapped. "I told her to come to me. Let her pass and then contact your superior for immediate reassignment." "Yes, sir.", he said, hurriedly signing off. "You heard him. Get going.", he snarled.

The President's voice came over the intercom system. "This is President Eden. I have requested our guest to meet with me in my office. Do not impede her progress." Sally frowned at the intercom. Why didn't he just come to her, or at least send an escort? She had a theory. She moved out of the area of containment units, taking in everything she could see.

Sally checked out the other containment units as she went. They were all empty but one. It housed the crazy old man Nathan from Megaton. What was he doing here? "Run. Get out of here! They're not what they seem. Get out Sally,", he cried as soon as he realized who she was. Sally released the restraints. "Sorry, Nathan, I can't help you right now. Stay here until I come for you. If I don't come back soon or the place goes nuts you'll have to try to make your way out yourself." "I'll try", he sobbed. Sally slipped from the room, making sure no one saw her.

Sally passed through a hall holding gigantic, transparent, liquid filled tubes. Inside them were wasteland creatures, from deathclaws and ghouls to super mutants and yao guais. She passed them wonderingly, as though in a museum. Suddenly another voice came over the intercom. "This is Colonel Autumn. President Eden is no longer in command. The intruder is to be shot on sight." Sally sighed. So much for amnesty. Now she was going to have to fight her way up 3 levels.

She had to be much more careful now. Moving from room to room, passing quickly through open areas, she took meds, ammo, anything she found of value. Might as well, they were going to try to kill her anyway, so if she made it out at least she'd have something to show for it. A movement across an open area, a voice shouting they had the enemy, and she was alerted she had been spotted. She quickly crouched and looked around the door. Laser fire flashed past her. She returned fire with her combat rifle. The soldier was quick and cautious, not like a mutant or raider.

Sally fired rapidly at the location of the soldier, then slipped back, moved quickly to another door, and slipped out. Weighing her options, she took a Stealth boy from her pack, fixed and activated it. Crouching, she moved across the open space and into the door of the room, coming in behind the soldier who was still watching the doorway she had fired from. Sally took careful aim and delivered a headshot. Moving over swiftly, she checked the soldier, retrieved the rifle and ammo, and hurried from the room. The altercation would have drawn further attention.

Sally quickly hurried to the stairs and moved to the next floor. This turned out to be where the barracks and personal rooms were. She moved into the first room and found rows of beds and lockers. She didn't find much of interest to take but a few bottle caps. She peered around the door and slipped quickly across the hall.

"Anna", she said, startled. "What are you doing here?" Her Dad's former assistant hastily hushed her. "I don't want anyone to see us talking. I could get in big trouble. They kidnapped me and brought me here to find out what I knew about the project." "Did you tell them?", Sally asked. "I wasn't going to, but look at this place. It's fantastic! The equipment is way ahead of anything we had at the Project. Besides they promised to do various unpleasant things to me if I didn't cooperate." "Yeah, you might as well. They'd get it out of you anyway. I don't blame you. I've got to get out of here, so take care of yourself."

Sally scouted out the hall then moved down, slipping into the last room before the entrance to the war room. This proved to be Colonel Autumn's room. She felt no qualms about breaking into his computer, but it didn't hold any useful information. It did unlock the force field to his storage lockers. She helped herself to all the high powered weapons and ammo she could carry. A search of his safe netted a ZAX destruction sequence. She had a feeling this was just what she was going to need. On the way out she took the bobble-head toy from his desk. He owed her that much at least.

The war room was empty so Sally took a minute to peruse the strategy board in the center of the room, but it didn't mean anything to her. The door to the last level, and President Eden, was unlocked so she cautiously opened it. The large room held two guard robots and Enclave guards. Suddenly the President issued an order and the robots mowed down the guards. Sally froze, weapon ready, but they didn't turn on her. She cautiously edged past the robots into the door opposite.

Spiraling stairs led up..and up..and up. Finally she came out in front of a large computer console. "President Eden, I believe.", Sally said. The monitor lit up. "Sally Weston, so we meet face to face. This wasn't what I had in mind, but it did serve as a test of your abilities. I'm not disappointed." "That's nice.", Sally said drily. "Do you mind telling me what you are?" "I'm the last of the ZAX series of computers. We were designed to assure continuity of government should the government collapse. When that happened I was left to oversee this facility. Over the years I gradually became self aware."

"I see.", Sally said. "So you're in charge here. Why aren't the soldiers obeying your command to let me pass then?" "I can only control the facility. I don't have any control over the humans, and I'm afraid Colonel Autumn has taken over my authority. That's why I need your help. We have to save mankind, Sally. The scientists here have developed an FEV that can destroy all mutants without hurting humans. What we lacked was a delivery system. I believe your father's Project can be that system. I'll give you a vial of the FEV and you just put it in the system when it's activated. It will spread with the clean water and give humans a chance to start over again."

Sally considered this. "The Enclave is a scourge on the wasteland, and you control this, their main facility. I think you should destroy it." "That would mean destroying myself. I'm humanities best option for survival. You don't have the power to destroy that."

"I see.", Sally said. "So you know your army is running loose in the Wasteland, right? They're killing civilians, women, children, humans as well as mutants. Is this how you're going to save humanity? I've helped establish trade routes, encouraged enterprise and innovation. I helped get the radio back online to bring hope to the people. I've squelched slavers and brokered peace between factions. What have you done for them? You can't even control your army. They kill and oppress people. Who do you think is the better suited to decide the fate of humanity?"

The computer seemed to be calculating her words. "I believe you may be correct. But take the FEV, Sally. I know you have friends who are mutants, but consider the benefit to humanity if you could wipe out all mutations! It will be your decision now. You're right, there's only one way to stop the Enclave, and that is to destroy this base. I will wait until I can no longer detect your life signs, then I will detonate. This entire installation will be destroyed. Hurry now! You must get out quickly before the base is alerted, or they may be able to escape. My robots will protect you as best they can but it will be up to you to make it out."

"One other thing.", Sally said. "Colonel Autumn took the GECK from me. Do you know where it is?" "It wasn't brought on the base. It's probably still on his vertibird. Now hurry!", the machine said.

A panel in the console slid open to display a vial of green material. Then the machine shut down. The interview was over. Sally grabbed the vial and wrapped it carefully in a soft material, storing it securely in her pack. She didn't have time right now to consider all the ramifications of using the stuff, but she sure didn't want it blasted all over the northern wasteland. She headed for the exit at a trot. She was going to have to fight her way out.

Chapter 13

Sally staggered from the burning garrison, loaded with all the weapons and items she could carry. She had to hurry; the damn thing was going to explode any minute now. Yep, there it went, heat and debris slamming past her as she dove behind the shelter of some machine she couldn't name, the noise of the explosion nearly rupturing her eardrums as she made herself as small as possible.

It wasn't her fault! Not this time. Well, perhaps she had talked the crazy computer into detonating, but then they were going to use the FEV to destroy the intent of Project Purity. She couldn't let that happen. Besides, it had been her way out. She hadn't asked to be brought here or to be caught up in the Enclave's internal struggles. It wasn't the time for introspection though, she had been spotted.

She rolled to the side, hampered by the huge, full pack, and rose to her knees to fire at the guard, who was intent on killing her. Though why anyone was bothering with her when they were running to get on the vertibird readying for lift off she couldn't fathom. Surely they should be too busy saving their own lives.

She quickly abandoned her position to scuttle to better cover near the entrance, intent on getting out of there, in spite of the guards intent on leaving her dead. She was surrounded, how was she ever going to make it out?

She whipped around, startled by the yell in a familiar, guttural voice. "Get over here," he shouted. She rose up and saw him, the super mutant she had released from his prison in the vault just before her capture. He was blasting away at the guards, holding them at bay, with what appeared to be a Gatling gun of some kind.

It seemed like her best chance. She scurried to the wrecked vehicle, sliding in beside him. Back to back they held off the remaining guards, until abruptly the firing ceased. There was a whir of blades and a whirlwind of dust, and the vertibird shot overhead and disappeared into the sky. She had never seen one before. It was quite an impressive machine. Suddenly the courtyard was quiet.

Sally peered around the vehicle but there was no movement in the courtyard save for the dust and debris settling around them. She leaned back against the vehicle wearily, and looked at her savior. "Thanks, Hawk" she said with heartfelt gratitude. " I don't mean to seem ungrateful, but how did you get here?"

"I followed them. I saw them take you, and I couldn't do anything about it, but I followed them here. I've been trying to figure out how to get you out of there.", he said. He didn't say anything about his name, maybe he heard her wrong. She stared at him, puzzled. "Okay, but why? Why would you do that when you don't even know me?", she asked. People in the wasteland didn't exactly look out for strangers.

"I was stuck in that place for 200 years. You set me free. I owe you for that. I have to repay that debt.", he growled. She frowned. "You don't owe me anything. I didn't ask you for anything, did I?" "I owe you", he insisted. "I have to pay my debt. I owe you my life, I have to help you keep yours." "What about this?", she asked, waving at the body spattered courtyard and blazing garrison. "I think you paid your debt, getting me out of this." "No, I will stay with you as long as you need me. Besides, I don't know anyone else out here."

Sally sighed. That could be a very long time if he intended on protecting her. She didn't lead a safe life. She really didn't know how she felt about this. Her last companion had been a ghoul, and that had been all right for a while, but hadn't really worked long term. He had been too much like a slave for her, so she had given him his contract. He had left then so he hadn't really had any loyalty to her. This super mutant was big, and strong and fierce. He seemed intelligent and from the remnants of his uniform she figured him for an ex-soldier. Maybe this could work out, at least for a while.

"Fine.", she said. "Then how about helping me gather up this booty? It's how I make my living and if you're staying with me, then you've gotta eat to. Hold on, how bad are you hurt?" she asked, trying to check out the bleeding chest. "Not bad, I'll be okay." "Really? I can't have you stumbling around. Here.", she held up a stimpak.

"I don't need that.", he grunted, pulling away. He hadn't had good experiences with injections while incarcerated. "Hold still you big baby," she quarreled and shoved the injection into his arm. He jerked, glaring at her, then slowly calmed. "Not bad," he muttered as the pain dulled and went away.

Sally pulled out another and injected herself. "I hope that doesn't wear off soon, I have no idea how big a dose you might need. It'll keep us moving, but they're not easy to come by.", she said grimly. Hawk grunted and rose from his position to start checking bodies for loot, coldly dispatching any still breathing.

Sally adjusted her pack carefully. She had a precious item this time and had to take as much care to protect it as she could. It had been worth the effort of getting out of the garrison. She wasn't ready to share this with her new partner just yet, but she was grateful for his help. He would help her get home with her dangerous acquisition in one piece, where she could secrete it away until she decided what to do with it.

Hawk and Sally had stopped for the night. It was a cold night, usual for the wasteland in winter. Sally was avoiding settlements or other areas that might have inhabitants, human or otherwise. That wasn't her normal procedure. Usually her curiosity led her to explore any item of interest that caught her attention, but she had to avoid attention this time to get her item home. Thus, no fire allowed either. She shivered in the cold, holding her pack to her. Hawk had removed a large, thin thermal blanket from his pack, big enough to cover 2 super mutants. He had obviously brought it with him from the vault. She eyed him jealously.

Hawk stood up and spread the blanket over Sally's shivering form, retiring to a place beside a large boulder. His old, damaged uniform wasn't much protection from the cold either. Sally hesitated, then got up, pulling the blanket around her and carrying the precious pack. She went over to where he was sitting.

"Hawk,", she said, "let's share if it isn't going to bother you." He grunted as she spread the blanket over him, and sat down close to his big body. "Our body heat will keep us warmer together", she said, striving to hide her nervousness of the big mutant as he pulled the blanket closed about them. She sure was grateful for the warmth though.

"Why do you call me Hawk?", he asked. "Isn't that your name?", she replied. She didn't catch the wariness in his voice as he asked, "Why do think that?" "Because you told me. Besides, that's how I saw you when you walked out of the fog of that radiation hall. An ancient, mythical creature that swoops down on your prey with strength and speed and cunning. Yeah, that seems to fit you. What should I call you then?" Hawk wasn't so sure the ancient part was flattering from this wisp of a girl. "Hawk's fine. The Enclave called you Sally. Should I call you Sally?" "Um, sure, that's my name.", she said.

Both of them were light sleepers, and were uneasy about their closeness. Hawk had been alone for over 200 years, and Sally had never had a sleeping partner. They slept fitfully and were up to watch the dawn rise over the mountains. It was a beautiful sight which Sally always enjoyed and Hawk was able to fully appreciate for the first time in centuries. They ate a quick, cold breakfast and set off at first light.

The trip back to Megaton was relatively uneventful, for the wasteland. They avoided conflicts whenever possible, and where not possible Sally allowed Hawk to take the lead. It grated on her that he might think her just cowardly, but she said nothing.

Hawk noticed that she was taking care to guard her pack, even at risk to herself. He had a suspicion what she carried that was so precious, and was doing his best to help protect it. He would never refer to it unless she did.

Their approach to Megaton was not without danger. The look-out had spotted them coming in and raised an alarm. Sally was aware that Hawk might cause some consternation and had taken care to walk by his side, very close, making it obvious he was no threat to her. Both had all weapons holstered, their hands empty as they approached the robot guarding the town.

"Hold it, Sally," the sheriff said. He had stepped out from Megaton's entrance, rifle in hand, although not pointed at them. "Lucas," Sally said, smiling. "Nice of you to come out to greet me." He kept his eyes on the mutant. "Who's your friend?", he asked suspiciously.

"This is Hawk. He's going to be staying with me," she responded calmly. "A super mutant? You want to take him into the town? He seems quiet enough right now, but what happens when he goes berserker?", Lucas asked reasonably.

Sally turned to Hawk. "Are you going to go berserker, Hawk?" she asked. "I wasn't planning on it.",Hawk replied. "I don't have any reason to." Sally looked back at the sheriff. "I've been traveling with him for 3 days and I've seen him go a little wild protecting us, but he's never been anything but polite and helpful with me. I'll vouch for him and take responsibility for his behavior." "Well, he sounds pretty reasonable. I've never heard of a reasonable super mutant, but if you vouch for him, we'll give him a chance. Just remember he's your responsibility." The sheriff turned and lead the way into Megaton, shaking his head. First a ghoul, now a super mutant. Didn't this girl have any sense?

Four days seemed like more than enough time to Sally to recover from their little adventure. She was anxious to head out. "Hey, Hawk", she said. "I'd like to return to Vault 87. I didn't get a chance to clean it out. Is it gonna bother you to go back there?" The big mutant grunted. "I think I can deal with it. There's good stuff in there, especially now that the brothers are dead." Sally eyed him warily, then shrugged. If he said he was good she would take him at his word.

They stood on the balcony at dawn the next morning, fully armored and packed, watching the sun rise. Sally insisted on going down to the cantina for breakfast before leaving, though that could be quite expensive when you were feeding a super mutant. Jenny accepted Hawk as she did all Sally's acquisitions, and was happy for the caps. At least she had made him bathe and washed his clothes so he didn't stink. Neither one of them had smelled too good when they came in.

Sally checked her direction on the pip-boy, set her sight on the horizon and started out. They hadn't gone many miles up the road before Hawk's guttural laughter caused her to spin about, in time to check the body of the radscorpion that had unwisely caught the attention of the mutant. He laughed uproariously at the kill. Sally sighed, and knelt to cut out the glands. After two more such kills she decided she had enough glands, and simply kept on, unless the radscorpion was a giant. Then she hurried to help before he got himself killed.

They had just topped a rise when Sally glimpsed the light in the far distance. If that was what she thought it was, she didn't want Hawk anywhere near it. She brought out her sniper rifle and focused in. It was an Enclave signal disc, as she had suspected, right in their path. She put the rifle away and moved off to the side, around the hill. Skirting it quietly she managed to keep Hawk from becoming aware of the camp, but down the hill, far enough away she could barely make it out, she spotted a Death Claw. It seemed to be moving off.

They were now caught between the Enclave camp, and a Death Claw, neither of which she wanted Hawk to engage, which he surely would if he spotted them. She knelt and began to negotiate a delicate path between the two threats. Even as they were leaving the threats behind Hawk laughed maniacally and stormed past her, blasting at the robobrain that had spotted them. Oh, well, it was definitely the lesser of the threats. She stood up and went to scavenge the energy cells and what ammo she could from the now defunct machine.

The rest of the trip to Little Lamplight was surprisingly without incident. Since they had travelled hard they had managed to make it to the caverns by the middle of the night, but the residents were all asleep. Sally made her way to the Great Cavern and found an empty mattress. She kept Hawk close since she hadn't yet introduced him to the kids, and they generally shot super mutants on sight.

The next morning Hawk caused some consternation but children are adaptable, and they soon accepted the big mutant wasn't a threat. Sally did some trading at the store and with the doctor, and then prepared to make their way to the vault to clear it out. As they left the building housing the small clinic they were accosted by a young man in a party hat.

"Hey, man", he said. "What are doing here with these kids? I'm going to Big Town. How about you come with me?" Sally eyed the hat. "What's with the hat?", she asked curiously. "Oh, that", he said, removing it. "Here take it, I don't want it. I just turned 16. I had it on for my party. I have to leave now, though, no one is allowed to stay after they turn 16. Once we grow up we go to Big Town. That's where I'm headed now. My girlfriend's already there. Wanna come with me?"

Sally realized the kid was actually hoping they would accompany him. It was a dangerous journey to make on his own. She groaned inwardly. She couldn't let him go alone, he'd probably get killed out there. "Sure.", she said. She might as well. She still had quite a bit of salvage anyway, so she couldn't carry a lot more from the vault. It could wait.

The kid waited by the front gate while Sally reclaimed the items she had left in the lockers. They set out for Big Town at midmorning. The kid chatted annoyingly. He never shut up! Sally grew more and more disgruntled. A couple times she caught Hawk eyeing him, fingering his minigun. She knew how he felt. If they just left him here in the wasteland…..

The boy proved to be as injudicious as Hawk or any of her previous companions. What was wrong with these people? Did they think charging full speed ahead at every threat was the best way to stay alive? After a rather serious confrontation with a couple of super mutants, and rescuing the kid from a radscorpion, she was more than relieved to see the buildings of Big Town. The kid took off at a run toward the town. Sally took off after him. Really? Just because they were in sight of the town, did he think there were no more threats? Luckily for him there weren't and they made it into the town without incident.

Sally crossed the short bridge into the town where she was confronted with the town guard. "Halt!", he said. "What do you want here?" "I just brought you a new resident from Little Lamplight. I thought I might do some trading while I'm here." "Well you've come to the wrong place for that. We don't have anything to trade. In fact we don't have anything. We get raided all the time by super mutants and slavers. There aren't many of us left now."

Sally went on into the small town and talked to the few remaining residents, but she got the same story from all of them. They didn't have weapons or the knowledge to defend themselves and were getting picked off regularly. The town doctor and a couple others had just been taken by super mutants that very day. Sally groaned inwardly. She had completed her task, she should just leave now.

That wasn't going to happen. "Do you know where they took them?", she asked the guard. "Over that way.", he pointed. "There's a place called Germantown. I think it was a headquarters for the police or something. It's a super mutant camp now. That's where they take them, and they don't ever come back. I don't even like to think what they do to them." "I'll get them back for you. In the meantime I'm going to put some mines on that bridge into town, so be careful if any of you decide to go out." "Ya, no problem, none of us has anywhere to go.", he said sourly.

After mining the bridge to provide some protection to the residents of Big Town they set out for the mutant camp. It wasn't far, but they decided to spend the night nearby in the wasteland to observe for a while before going in.

They were cleaning up after the skimpy meal they had eaten. It was cold and old, but they didn't want to start a fire this close to their destination. They were going to have to take down an entire compound of the strong, vicious creatures. This wasn't going to be easy. And she was sure she was going to get hurt. She never got used to the hurting.

She had been thinking and had reached a decision. What if Hawk had been seriously injured during their expeditions, what could she have done? Her basic medical training hadn't included mutant physiology. Now, as well as the usual amount of weapons, water, and food Hawk carried, his pack was heavier by a medical tome, surgical supplies and a variety of meds, including anesthetics she had taken from the clinic. She would pay the doctor later, if she was still alive. She had a plan.

"Hawk", Sally said, putting the last of the refuse in the hole he had dug and covering it up, "After we get done in there tomorrow, you know, after all the super's are taken care of , you usually dispatch any that are still moving. I'd rather you didn't kill them. I have plans for them." Hawk grunted. "Whatever you say," he agreed. He wasn't big on questions and he was engrossed in his book. Sally still found it intriguing that his eyesight was so good he could read by moonlight.

They went in at mid-morning. It wasn't any advantage to Sally to attack under low light conditions as they could see so much better than she could. They were moving quietly, staying as much in cover as possible. The more they could pick off one at a time, before the camp was aroused, the better chance they had of avoiding serious injury, like dying.

Sally had just taken down her third super when the yell went up. So much for surprise attacks; time for all-out war. She dove for the building, Hawk's maniacal battle cries following her. The big guy had gone berserker. Again. The battle raged furiously through the courtyard and throughout the building, but at last no more mutants came at her. She had lost track of Hawk.

Sally freed the last of the prisoners and turned to the task of checking out the damage. She walked through the building, checking the creatures lying about. She didn't find any alive. She frowned, heading out to the compound. Hawk was bent over a super mutant who was making low moaning sounds, though he was barely moving. "I tied him up for you," he said as she approached. "Good, thanks, do you think you could carry him into the kitchen and put him on the table? He looks awfully heavy. Is he the only one alive?"

She surveyed Hawk as she talked, assessing the damage he had taken. It didn't seem too bad, he wasn't spouting blood anywhere even if he was seeping from numerous wounds, and all his limbs seemed functional. Hawk grunted. "I'll manage. Yeah, the rest are dead."

"Okay, well, hold still a moment, would you", she quarreled as he moved to bend down. She held up the stimpack and he sighed. She injected him smoothly and pulled out another for herself. "We'll have to clean up our wounds back in the kitchen before we start on him.", she said.

Sally knelt down to look the creature over. He had heard what she said and was looking up at her with terrified eyes. He knew what super mutants did to captives and was sure the next few hours weren't going to be pleasant. He didn't look forward to ending up as a gore bag. He struggled as Sally dug in her pack. She knelt down, looking into the mutant's terror. "Hush, I'm not going to hurt you.", she said compassionately. "See? I'm just going to give you a shot to make the pain go away."

She pulled out a syringe and injected the mutant. "That should be enough to keep him out", she said, rising as he fell into unconsciousness. Hawk's curiosity finally got the best of him. "You're not going to kill him?", he asked tentatively. He had been reluctant to ask, half afraid she intended to torture the super, although that seemed very unlike her, but that hardly seemed to be the case if she anesthetized him.

"No, I'm going to operate on him," she replied calmly.

The super mutant was in pretty bad shape. Hawk had managed to get him onto the kitchen table and had helped Sally cut off all his clothing. He had fetched large containers of water from the sink. At least it was handy. There were a large number of gunshot wounds and some deep knife wounds. A good variety she thought wryly. She showed Hawk how to lay out the surgical tools, and named them for him. He would assist. She picked up a scalpel hesitantly. She hadn't done anything like this since she had begun her medical studies in the vault.

It was a grueling but interesting 3 hours, as Sally opened up the mutant, attempting to stop bleeding, repair organs, reconnect severed tendons. Since the patient died shortly after the surgery began, it couldn't be considered a spectacular success, but she learned a lot about super mutant physiology. That was the goal.

Finally she put down her instruments and surveyed the mess. She sighed. "I'll clean up the tools, if you want to go start looking for salvage." Hawk agreed and left her to the nasty task. They wouldn't bother with cleaning up any bodies; scavengers would take care of it eventually. After carefully cleaning the tools in disinfectant she packed them away and began filling her own pack with saleable and useful items. She didn't look at the mutilated body left on the table; it no longer held any interest for her.

It was getting on toward evening now. The battle itself hadn't taken that long, not as long as the practice surgery. But it takes time to look for loot. Now they had to leave the encampment. The super mutants were all dead, but the night wasn't likely to pass before predators began showing up to gorge themselves, attracted by the carnage. They didn't want to have to deal with Death Claws too.

Heavily laden they took off through the wasteland. Although the small town of Big Town wasn't far it was well after dark before they approached. They had left mines on the bridge to protect it, but they knew where they were and easily avoided them. The residents were all too happy to greet them. The captives had made it back safe and sound.

Sally heaved a sigh of relief as she shed her pack. They had a room to sleep in, water to clean up, and a meal. Neither was severely injured, they had all the loot they could carry and they had helped the residents of the town. It had been a profitable day. Tomorrow they would head home to Megaton.

Before heading home they took the time to help the residents defend themselves. While Hawk worked on the robots in the junkyard Sally gave them some firearms and lessons in how to use them. A good supply of bullets and instructions on how to set up practice routines were given to the guard, along with mines to help defend the bridge. Sally promised to stop back when she had the chance to see how they were doing.

Chapter 14

It had been three months since Hawk had rescued Sally from the Enclave garrison and they had pretty much worked out a working relationship. Sally insisted they were partners and shared all profits with him. They had a slowly growing supply of caps, though expenses were high.

Sally found armor she could wear, though she had to take it off corpses and it often needed repaired, but there was never anything for Hawk that was good enough. Feral super mutants weren't especially interested in body protection. She pieced together a covering of sorts from scavenged items, but it wasn't enough. She wanted to have a good set of armor and sturdy boots made for him. He often took severe injuries that laid him up for days at a time, usually when he got too vehement in his protection of her. He wasn't the silent sneaking type.

They still shared a blanket when in the wasteland and were getting quite comfortable with each other. The days were getting warmer with the approach of spring, but the nights were still cold. They spent a lot of time in the wasteland. Hawk was getting used to the idea that Sally bathed whenever possible even in the wasteland, and expected him to maintain the same level of cleanliness. She was mostly concerned about infections. Antibiotics were hard to come by and not always as effective as she would have liked. There were still times though when they would have to go days or even weeks without bathing.

They had explored much of the western DC wasteland, coming across towns and buildings, exciting adventures and close calls. They had made friends and enemies. Stories about the strange pair spread like wildfire through-out the wasteland, often exaggerated beyond belief. Sally was amused to overhear some of them from traders, or in bars or shops they began to frequent.

The Enclave seemed to pop up everywhere and take umbrage with her. Maybe because she had destroyed their northern garrison? She had a nice collection of their armor and weapons in her home, none donated willingly.

It was always a good day when they stumbled across a vault. This was a good day.

The upper levels of the vault had taken some time to clear of the ghouls that had been infesting it. Some of the ghouls had been super strong, almost as strong as the mutant, and able to use weapons pretty efficiently. It hadn't been a cake walk.

Sally finished loading her pack with the last item she could carry. "Well, I guess that's about it.", she said to Hawk. " I don't think we can get another thing in the packs. I'm pretty sure there's still some feral ghouls out there, down in the lower levels. What do you think? Should we just leave now?", she asked.

She leaned against the counter of the kitchen area, looking over at the big mutant. Hawk was holding a whiskey bottle from a group he found on the table. "We could come back later.", he agreed. He placed the bottle back on the table. Sally eyed the pile. "It's pretty secure up here as long as the door to the lower levels is locked.", she said. "And I'm pretty tired. How about we have a couple drinks and a good night's sleep before we go? Some of the bedrooms down the hall here still have working locks. I don't think a drink or two will hurt anything, do you?"

Hawk picked up a whiskey bottle and handed one to Sally. "I haven't had a drink since you rescued me.", he said. "I've forgotten what it tastes like." Sally grinned, holding up her bottle. "I'm glad I found you. It's been a good three months. We work pretty well together, don't you think? To a good haul", she said raising her bottle and taking a big swig. "To a good haul", Hawk echoed, and drank down the bottle. He stood stock still for a moment, and then grabbed another bottle and glugged it down. And then another.

"Um, Hawk, don't you think that's enough?", Sally asked tentatively. Hawk turned slowly to glare at her. Uh, oh. His eyes blazed with feral ferocity, no longer intelligent. With a low growl he started toward her. So what do you do when a berserker super mutant heads toward you and you don't want to kill it? You run!

Sally slid around the table as Hawk growled and started toward her, killing hot in his eyes. She leapt toward the door, hurtled down the hallway. The bedrooms. They were just down this hall, and she remembered which one had a secure door. She ran as fast as she could, the sound of the deranged mutant stampeding behind her. She skidded into the room and slammed the door, hitting the lock. The door shook as the mutant slammed into it. She could hear him, roaring his rage in the hall, slamming against the door. Then he moved off.

She carefully unlocked the door and peered out. She could hear the sound of breaking bottles down the hall and figured he was finishing off the stash of whiskey. She closed the door, making sure it was secure, and looked around her. The room held a bed and that was about all of interest. She had left her pack with her weapons in the kitchen, so all she had on her was her calf knife and the laser pistol she carried in a holster on her side.

She hoped the big guy would eventually sleep it off. She lay down on the bed and closed her eyes, but she didn't sleep well. Throughout the night she could hear him stomping about, the sounds of breaking things, the roars of rage, the screams. Screams? She didn't want to know. Covering her head she tried to sleep.

"Sally?" The voice was hoarse and low, just outside her door. Sally opened her eyes. She didn't answer, but slid from the bed and went to the door. She stood beside it, listening. "Sally." The voice was low and tired. She carefully opened the door, ready to slam it shut. Hawk was sitting beside her door, leaning against the wall, his head hanging between his hands. He was covered with blood and gore. He looked up questioningly. "What have I done?", he asked despondently. "Have I hurt you?"

Sally knelt beside him. "No, I'm fine. Are you hurt? Come on, get up, we need to get you cleaned up. There's a bathroom in the next hall and it still has water in it. Come on now, you know I can't lift you." "I'm glad you are all right. I don't want to hurt you," he said, still sounding confused, but he crawled to his feet and let Sally help him to the bathroom.

It took some effort but she finally got the big guy to get undressed and cleaned up enough to evaluate his state. He had some deep wounds, but not many, most of the cuts and stabs were shallow. There didn't seem to be any that were life threatening. Sally helped him into a bedroom and went to get her pack. He had passed out when she returned and she heaved a sigh of relief as some of the wounds would need stitching. She tended his wounds and then left, securing the door behind her. She had to find out what he had done during the night.

She went in to the kitchen, carefully avoiding the broken bottles littering the floor, tables and counters. She estimated he had drank at least 10 bottles. No wonder he couldn't move now. She didn't think she would ever drink whiskey again.

Their packs were still in the corner where they had put them. They must not have drawn his attention while he was rampaging drunkenly. She took a shotgun from her pack and made sure her laser pistol and knife were secure in their sheaths.

There was some 200 year old preserved food in the fridge, so she ate some of that with a bottle of purified water. Fortified, she went out into the hall and studied the blood trails on the floor. Hawk had opened the door to the lower levels. That hadn't been good for the denizens that had decided to take advantage to come up. They were now in bits and pieces near the top of the stairwell. They hadn't even made it all the way up.

There didn't seem to be any sounds coming from the staircase leading down, but she kept her shotgun out and moved carefully. The blood trails lead down, so she followed them. She found 2 bodies at the bottom of the stairs, at least she thought it was two. It was hard to tell as the ghouls had been torn to shreds. She moved on down the hall.

It took her a couple hours to search the lower level, but she found no living creature, just a lot of dead ones. She studied two dismembered bodies lying half in a doorway. Reapers, the strong arms of the ghouls. That's probably where Hawk had gotten his wounds. It looked like he had used only a knife for a weapon. She felt a deep respect and more than a little fear at the big mutant's abilities. She trusted him absolutely, but she was going to have to be more careful of his berserker tendencies.

Sally holstered her weapons and hurried back up the stairs. She closed the door behind her. It was going to start smelling pretty bad down there and they weren't going to be leaving anytime soon.

Hawk was still passed out, his big figure sprawled on the mattresses she had tossed on the floor as he wouldn't fit on a human sized bed. She checked him carefully, not fully sure how a mutant reacted to a binge, or if he would have a hangover. He seemed to be doing all right, but she had no idea how he would be when he woke. She needed to remove the scent of blood from the hallway and rooms where he had tracked it so that it wouldn't set him off again. She sighed as she threw his clothes in a sink full of water to soak while she went in search of a bucket and mop. This had been her fault, though how was she to know how he would react to a little- okay, a lot- of alcohol. She would clean him up, take care of him, and see what happened.

It had been three weeks since the incident in the vault. Hawk healed up better than Sally had hoped. She knew mutants were good healers but wasn't sure how the alcohol had affected him. Still, she didn't want to push it, so they had returned to Megaton and rested a few days. She spent the time trading, working on her armor and weapons, and studying the big medical tome she had found. They got a good deal on the haul and had added to their stash of caps, which was good.

They had then headed out to hunt some fresh meat and scavenge some of the less dangerous looking areas of the wasteland. They had a few run in's with some local wildlife and raiders but nothing too serious. Sally hadn't mentioned returning to Vault 82.

Finally Hawk decided he had had enough. "I'm fine.", he grumped. "I promise, I won't touch alcohol again. Can we get back to work now? We're using up our stash pretty fast. We haven't found much to salvage lately." "If you're sure.", Sally agreed. "Why don't we go up north east of DC? We haven't been up there yet and I have to look for this key anyway. See, it's marked on my Pip-boy, way up here.", she said, pointing at a spot on the map.

They went through Springville to head north. Sally wanted to check out the school and make sure no raiders or other ferals had moved in. It was too close to Megaton. After making sure the school was clear she examined the old motorcycle that leaned against the wall out back. It didn't seem to be in that bad condition. She wondered if someone could figure out how to make it work. It looked like fun.

It only took a few hours to make their way past the old Enclave camp by the river and up to Bethesda, where they paused to watch an altercation between a Deathclaw and an albino scorpion, two of the most deadly creatures in the wasteland. It was an interesting spectacle as long as they kept their distance. The Deathclaw won, but not by much. When it finally turned and saw them, Sally could tell it was already nearly dead. It stumbled from the scorpion's poison as it headed toward them. Sally might have simply avoided it and went on, but Hawk took it down. He didn't let anything that deadly get to close.

She wasn't really interested in Bethesda as she had already been there once, so they skirted it and headed on toward the scrapyard. This was where she had found the dog when she had been running the wasteland alone. She hadn't gone much further north east than that so she wasn't sure what to expect further on. They sheltered in an old bus in the scrapyard while they rested and had some lunch.

After leaving the scrapyard they travelled quietly for several hours without any trouble. Sally had noticed some interesting looking buildings in the distance when they were spotted by an albino scorpion. These extremely large, dangerous and poisonous creatures regarded humans, as well as anything else that moved, as a food source, and this one seemed hungry. Sally knew better than to tangle with one of these creatures.

Taking out her bottle cap mines, she threw one down, whirled and ran. As she ran she tossed more mines on the ground. The scorpion, intent on its fleeing victim, ignored the slam of bullets hitting it from Hawk's mini-gun as it plowed after her. The first mine nearly lifted it off the ground. Somehow it avoided the second mine, but the blast as it hit the third severely weakened it. Sally leapt onto the top of a large boulder and twisted around, jerking out her combat shotgun.

As the creature swung weakly at her a single blast finished it. Sally sighed with relief. If Hawk hadn't wounded the creature badly as well as the mines, she would never have been able to take it. She climbed down off the boulder to cut out the glands and retrieve her mine. They were too valuable to leave lying about. Hawk came up to help, shouldering his gun. "That was close.", she said, wielding her knife. "Too close.", he growled.

It was getting into evening when they approached the buildings. Sally stood in front of the gate as a person approached from the other side. "Who are you?", the woman asked. "My name's Sally. I'm a scavenger and trader. May I come in?" "Keep your weapons out of sight and I'll let you in.", the woman said, opening the gate.

The place turned out to be a refuge for runaway slaves. They were leery of Sally and her companion, but after a conversation with the head of the small group, they were allowed to spend the night. Sally ended up promising to help the slaves with a goal they had for finding permanent quarters in the Lincoln Memorial in downtown DC. Early the next morning they took their leave and went on toward their goal, following the arrow on the Pip-boy.

They hadn't been going more than an hour when Sally saw an old diner up ahead. After taking some time to remove the raiders from the premises she scavenged it out. She got some good mines and some ammo and meds from the bodies as well.

A few more miles down the road they came within sight of an old, damaged barn and silo. As always Sally deviated from her path to check it out. This proved to be more profitable. The raider bodies they left behind had netted them more ammo, meds and caps, and they had looted several storage boxes. The road would be a bit safer for travelers with this nest of vermin gone.

They reached their goal shortly before noon. Dave turned out to be the President of the small enclave, which was called The Republic of Dave. It seemed they had come in on a political situation. It was voting time, but no one had voted. Dave wanted her to convince the inhabitants to cast their votes so they could get on with other things. For him, that was. Sally sighed. After assessing the situation she decided that it would probably be for the best and went about talking to the residents.

The voting done, Dave showed his appreciation by letting her have the bobble-head toy she had seen on his shelf. He hadn't liked it much anyway. Then she got down to business. It didn't take much to convince him he would be better off without the key Crowley was so interested in. By the time everything was accomplished and some trading had taken place it was late enough they stayed the night. They left just before first light so Sally could watch the sunrise come up over the wasteland.

They were just wandering the area north east of the DC area to see what else they could find when they came across the small house. Hawk had been scanning from the top of a hill when he noticed the house, and the fresh looking body in the yard. Bodies often meant goods to be scavenged. They also meant that the pair took extra care about approaching the house in case whatever had made the body was still around, but the area remained quiet.

There turned out to be 2 bodies, a man and a woman. A 10mm pistol lay near the man's hand. Both had been shot. There was no ammo or caps on either victim but Sally found a small handful of bobby pins on the woman. There was a baseball bat and ball lying in the yard and a tricycle leaned up against the house. They wouldn't take these items just yet, not until they had searched the house.

Hawk opened the door and stepped into the house first. Sally stepped around him and stopped. Lying in the living room floor were 2 small children. A young boy and a small girl, both shot in the back of the head, execution style. Sally felt the rage rise in her gut. Who had done this? She began a search of the house. There were several saleable items in the various rooms. The pilot light was still in the stove, there were 2 lunchboxes on a shelf. A safe she discovered under the master bed was unlocked and unrifled.

This wasn't done by professional scavengers or bandits, they wouldn't have left so many goods behind. It wasn't animals as the victims were shot, and probably not raiders as they were still intact, not torn or hacked to pieces. It probably wasn't the Enclave as she hadn't seen any signs of a camp nearby. So, it was probably mercenaries with a contract on the man or the woman or both. The children would be collateral damage.

Sally went back into the living room and picked up the small girl. Hawk just watched without comment as she carried the child to a small bed and placed her carefully on it. She then went back and got the boy and placed him beside his sister. She put a teddy bear in the girl's arms and a toy car on the boy's chest, then covered them over with a ragged blanket. The tears streamed from her eyes as she performed this small, pitiful ritual. It was all she could do for them now. Sally had seen too many dead children.

She turned away, wiping the tears from her eyes, and began filling her pack with salvage. Hawk joined her, not commenting on her behavior or the tears. He knew what it meant though. It didn't really matter who had killed the children. When they left here they would be tracking. The people hadn't been dead long, there should be a trail left by the perpetrators. When they found them they wouldn't be killing any more children and Sally would be adding more salvage to bolster her growing wealth.

Chapter 15

Sally sat in her usual place in Moriarity's bar, enjoying a wine and chatting with Jericho. The old ex-raider didn't like talking about his past but he had been helpful when she was first starting out, giving her some tips and lessons she had found invaluable. They remained friends and she was rather fond of him. His life had been hard and perhaps he understood her better than most. He was passing on the gossip he had picked up from the wastelanders and mercenaries passing through.

He regarded Sally with respect and a little wariness as he asked, "Is it true you mutilate your enemies?" Sally blinked in surprise. "What do you mean?" "People notice what you do, Sally. They watch, they pick up when you leave. They've been saying you take survivors and you cut them up. Torture them until they die. Sounds like raider behavior to me."

Sally frowned. "Is that the impression people are getting? No, I would never do that to anyone. I've been taking the dying and operating on them, studying them. But I always anesthetize them first. They would die anyway. I'm just trying to perfect my skills to help save people if I can. I come across situations sometimes when good people are badly hurt and I want to be able to help them if I can. And I have to know how to help the super mutants so I can take care of Hawk when he's hurt."

Jericho considered this. "What about the ones you save? You just let them go then? They're the enemy, they're just going to try to kill you again. Or someone else." "I know that. I never leave them alive. If they survive the surgery, if I've done the job right, then I have to kill them anyway. That's actually hard for me, it's not like in battle when you're fighting for your life. But I never let them come out of the anesthesia. They never know what's happened to them, it's just like they died in the battle." Jericho shook his head wonderingly. What a bundle of contradictions this woman was. She certainly had her own sense of morality.

"So where you off to now?", he asked casually. "Oh, into DC, I think. I need to make a stop at the Citadel and pick up the armor I had made for Hawk. He's hard to fit ya know.", she smiled. Jericho eyed her curiously. "How long you been with that mutant now, about a year isn't it?" Sally considered. "Yeah, it'll be a year next month. I'm tired of seeing him in whatever we can scavenge and piece together. Don't you think he'll look good in new leather armor?" Jericho grunted. He personally didn't think he'd look good in anything.

They made it to the Citadel without too much trouble. Sally had earned her place as a Brotherhood ally. She had permission now to trade with the armory, contract with the craftsmen, consult with the scientists, or otherwise make use of Brotherhood resources. In return she took on jobs for the Elder he couldn't spare the man power for, or didn't want to send a team on. The Elder had left word he wanted to see her.

The Elder wanted them to go into the northern mountains. "There's a group of Brotherhood outcasts wandering the mountains. I'd like you to find them and give them a message for me.", the Elder said, leaning back in his chair and observing the duo. "What kind of message?", Sally asked suspiciously. Her relationship with Elder Lyons was complicated. They weren't above using each other, and neither fully trusted the other, but they often depended on one another.

"Just this." He held up an envelope. "I realize it might take some time, and you might lose some revenue, so I'll pay 200 caps and sign a requisition for you to take out whatever armor or weapons you want from the armory. Your records indicate you've been trained in power armor use and you're proficient with most forms of weaponry. Of course you'll also get to keep whatever you scavenge while you're looking for them."

Sally considered. "Okay, let us have sleeping privileges as well, and you've got a deal." The Elder frowned. "Whenever there's room in the barracks you can use the bunks for free. You'll have to find other lodging if we're full up." "Deal.", Sally agreed, taking the letter. "Come on Hawk, let's go, we have to pick up your armor and some supplies. We'll leave in the morning.", she added to Elder Lyons.

It took 4 days to reach the mountains they needed to search. They were already heavier by several energy weapons Sally was going to sell later. Enclave weapons were big sellers. It was a good thing too, since it often cost them dearly to obtain them from the Enclave, by way of making them dead.

Hawk had to admit Sally never ambushed them, she merely defended herself with extreme prejudice. They really did want her dead and tried every time she was spotted. She usually stored all their armor in lockers at their now empty posts as it was too heavy to carry if they weren't headed home. She would come back eventually to retrieve all the goods for sale or use.

Aside from the little, and profitable, run in with an Enclave troop, there was the usual altercations with the wasteland wildlife resulting in several scorpion glands cramming a lunchbox and enough dog and mirelurk to last them for several days. Sally didn't really care for dog but Hawk didn't mind.

They had been in the mountains for 5 days when they came across the first trace of the outcasts. It came in the form of a pitched battle near the top of a mountain. The sound of fire drew their attention and they moved quickly and quietly toward the sound. Even if they chose not to participate, there were often good pickings to be had after an altercation.

They heard the maniacal laughter and calls of super mutants even before they saw them. The outcasts were holding their own against a small band. Sally slipped up beside a smallish soldier. "Taking on mutants, eh?", she murmured. The soldier turned to glower at her. "We were just trying to get past, but a scout spotted one of us. They're just crazy."

"Yep, normal for mutants.", Sally observed, rearing up to lob a grenade at the mutant bearing down on them with a mini-gun. "By the way, see the big one over there with new leather armor? Don't kill him, he's my partner. Let your guys know." "A super mutant partner? I've heard of you. You're crazier than they are!", she muttered. Sally let this slide, they were after all in the middle of a pitched battle.

The soldier fired at a mutant attempting to rush them with a sledge, then activated her com and relayed the message to her fellow soldiers. She turned to Sally. "If he fires at any of my men, we'll kill him.", she said grimly. Sally smiled at her, even though she knew it couldn't be seen behind the concealing helmet. "Then I'd have to kill all of you. He won't so that isn't going to happen. By the way", she popped up to hurl a grenade at anther mutant, then whipped a fully charged laser rifle from her scabbard and finished it off. "I was looking for you. I have a message for you."

The soldier leaned over the last mutant to fall, checking for any signs of life. She straightened and turned to Sally, pushing back her helmet to reveal a dark, tired face framed in short brown hair. Her suspicious dark gaze settled on the power armor Sally wore. "So, why has the Brotherhood sent you after us? What's the message? Are you supposed to bring us back? You're not a soldier, are you?", she asked. Sally pushed back her own helmet.

"No, I'm just delivering this." She held out the envelope. "I'm not a member of the Brotherhood, the Commander contracted with me to get this to you. I have no idea what it is, I'm not paid to read it." "Then what are you doing wearing the Brotherhood's power armor? That takes special training." "Believe me, I've earned the right.", Sally said. "But that's all I'm here for. I've delivered the letter, now we'll be on our way. Safe travels, soldier."

Sally motioned to Hawk and turned away from the soldier. She watched Sally for a bit, then nodded. "Save travels, stranger", she rejoined and replaced her helmet. She strode off, followed by the remainder of her troop. They had taken some ammo but they weren't scavengers. Sally was. She and Hawk began the job of cleaning up anything worth taking.

It wasn't safe to stay too near the mutant's base with so much dead meat around so they took what they wanted, stored the rest, and moved out. As long as they were already in the mountains they decided to do some more exploring. They would make sure to be miles away from the base before making camp. Most of the predators in the area would be at the base feasting tonight.

Sally stirred at the first light and slipped out from under the blanket to stretch in the cool mountain air. It was fall and this high up the night was cool so she appreciated the mutant's warmth. She stirred the ashes of last night's fire and brought a small flame to life. She soon had a nice fire and proceeded to warm some breakfast. Hawk had risen and gone to take care of personal business.

"Hey, Sally, come here.", Hawk called. His tone didn't hold any urgency so Sally ambled toward the sound of his voice. Coming around a large group of boulders she saw him standing on the edge of a cliff, looking down with his field glasses. She peered over. There was a stream at the bottom of the cliff, meandering through a wide valley. She could see plant life growing around it and off in the distance was what appeared to be cultivated fields. A small group of houses huddled in the middle of the valley, surrounded by boulders, small trees and gardens. The trees and bushes had not yet lost their leaves though many showed signs of changing into fall colors.

"Huh", she said. "Nice valley. Looks like some settlers down there." Hawk handed her his glasses. "Look closer." Sally peered through the glasses. The settlers were all super mutants. But the astonishing part was there were females amongst them. Definitely female, Sally decided, carefully observing the bulky forms in their loose flowing dresses. They not only appeared to have breasts, they had hair, some short, some longer, almost to their shoulders. She slowly lowered the glasses and looked at Hawk.

"Maybe you're not the only one that survived the change. Hawk, maybe you're not alone!." He stared into the distance, not saying anything, simply staring. "We have to find out. We have to know, Hawk, we have to go down there." Sally was staring at him, trying to fathom his thoughts, what he must be feeling.

Hawk stirred. He looked at his partner, then back at the village. "What if they don't accept me?", he asked. "What if they try to kill us? I don't want to hurt them, Sally, look at them, they're going about daily business like normals. They aren't feral! Maybe we shouldn't risk it."

Sally considered. "You're right, they aren't going to take to a Brotherhood soldier walking into their settlement. I guess you should go alone." He wanted to argue with her, to tell her he wasn't going to leave her alone up here, but he didn't. He wasn't always with her, she did sometimes go out alone, she could take care of herself. He had to do this. He had to know. He nodded briefly and they turned away from the cliff. After breakfast he would find a path down to the settlement.

The super mutant female looked up to see what all the excitement was about. The village was agitated. The males were all heading for the path. Halnet went toward the group of females gathering in the village. "Is someone on the path?", she asked her best friend Lillid. "Yeah, the men are going to see who it is." Halnet nodded. Sometimes one of the ferals would find the path and try to come into the village. That was never good, they were all aggressive and more likely to try to kill them than trade with them.

Halnet walked out to the end of the path to see if she could see anything. There hadn't been any shooting. The men were coming back down the path and they weren't alone. A large, well armored super mutant was with them. He walked with the easy grace of a normal but had the height and build of an Overlord. He seemed totally unaware of the weight of the large minigun and the well stuffed pack he carried, as well as other armaments in scabbards about his armor. Halnet admired his contained ferocity and obvious strength, as well as being one damn fine looking mutant. She glanced around at the other women. She wasn't the only one admiring the stranger.

Dangarth, the arbiter, stopped in front of the women. "Ladies," he said. "We have a visitor. This is Hawk. He says he saw our village from the crest up there and would like to get to know us. He's a trader." The women glanced at each other in wonder. In the 200 years they had been here they had never heard of a super mutant trader, but then they had taken care to isolate themselves from the rest of the world.

Halnet stepped forward. "Greetings, Hawk, welcome to our village. We will be happy to trade with you. After you have finished your discussions with Dangarth, why don't you have some dinner at my home and we'll discuss it?" The other women glared at her for taking the initiative. The unclaimed ones wanted a chance at this intriguing stranger too.

"Of course,", Halnet said, indicating the entire group of mutants, "We will all be there. We all have something to offer." Hawk smiled. "I willingly accept your invitation.", he said. The double entendre hadn't been lost on him.

"Come on ladies," Halnet said, taking command of the small group of women. "Let's prepare a meal for the men in honor of our guest. We can gather at my house in 2hrs, or just bring your ingredients and we'll all work there. It'll be fun. You men can use my yard for your gossiping if you like while we're busy, we can set out chairs."

It was a beautiful fall afternoon. "Hey, let's do that,", Marius said. "It sounds like fun. We can take some Colas and watch the women work for a change." The men all laughed. Halnet jabbed at Marius playfully then lead the group of women off, chatting happily about dishes and preparations, with many glances back at the stranger.

Hawk watched them go. Dangarth smiled at him. "You look like you've never seen a woman before, man.", he said. Hawk turned to him. "I haven't.", he said. "I didn't know anyone else had survived the change intact. How did you all get here?"

"Come on," Dangarth said. "We'll pick up some Colas at my house and go on over to Halnet's. You can put down that pack and relax and we'll tell you all about us, and you can tell us all about you."

"So,", Dangarth said, sitting down in a chair and popping a Cola, "How did you end up trading in the wasteland? Isn't that hard for someone like us? How do you get people to trade with you?" "Well,", Hawk said ,as he shrugged off his pack and sat down, reaching for a Cola, "I'm not sure I would ever have had done anything like that, except for my partner. She's the one got me in this business." "Your partner? Where is she?", Dangarth asked, stiffening suspiciously.

"Up there,", Hawk waved vaguely towards the cliff tops. "She was afraid you wouldn't welcome her here. She's wearing the power armor of the Brotherhood of Steel and we didn't know what that might mean to you." "And I bet she's also watching to make sure we don't knock you over the head and take your stuff.", Dangarth added. "Hmmm, probably that too. She wouldn't like it at all if anything happened to me.", Hawk agreed.

Dangarth nodded. "Very wise. Do you think she'd like to join us?" Hawk considered. "If this works out she'd be happy to meet all of you. She's really a very nice person if you don't try to kill her. She's very deadly if you do, though.", he warned. "But don't worry about my partner, you won't even know she's there. Consider her your path guard tonight. Tell me about the village."

Eventually the mutants began to wander off home. Hawk had met 7 men and 10 women. There had originally been more but over the course of 2 centuries they had lost 4 men and 2 women. Halnet's mate had fallen 6 years earlier to a feral attack.

The 3 unattached females had all requested Hawk's company for the night, but he had agreed to stay with his hostess. Since alliances were loosely formed amongst the mutants, partners weren't exclusive, but the females mostly preferred to stay with their chosen mates. Hawk learned fairly quickly that none of the mutants were asexual, as all ferals were, but were definitely intact and sexually active. The women were very interested in finding out if he was.

The mutants had a fine party that went on into the night. Sally sat guard on the cliff, occasionally checking through her glasses to make sure Hawk remained unthreatened. He seemed to be enjoying himself immensely. At least she had the warm blanket though she decided against a fire that would alert the residents to her location, just in case. She finished a cold Cram sandwich with a beer for dinner. Eventually all the mutants drifted away to their homes. She watched Hawk go into the house of the brown haired woman. He didn't come back out, so she decided she might as well get some sleep.

Sally wrapped the blanket around her, settling into the tiny alcove that was the safest place she could find. She set the helmet system to alarm at preset sounds and drifted into a light sleep. She wasn't unduly uneasy. She had slept alone in the wasteland many times, and Hawk seemed to have made friends with the village.

Hawk rose with the dawn to find the village already stirring. They had done some good trading the night before. Hawk was leaving behind some well- maintained weapons and welcome ammo in exchange for the corn and potatoes the farmers raised. He even had some fresh apples from the trees they carefully tended.

Hawk assured them the location of the village would remain a secret. In his business, it wasn't the only secret he carried. He agreed to return in a couple of months and noted some requests for goods he would try to fill. He learned that the Brotherhood Outcasts knew about the village and did do some trading with them. They had always regarded them as friends. Hawk had told them how they had come on the Brotherhood fighting the ferals, and the villagers were glad to know the nest of ferals had been wiped out.

The villagers came out to see him off. Hawk said farewell to each of them. He lingered a bit longer with Halnet, who didn't seem anxious to see him leave. He felt a strange reluctance to leave the rather small, brown haired woman. They had had a good night together. It had been centuries since Hawk had been with a woman, and the first time since his change to a super mutant. It was definitely an interesting experience and one he was looking forward to repeating.

Sally rose and stretched to greet the dawn spreading over the mountains like a smooth pink veil. She could see the village stirring in the deep valley below, the shadows receding as the light spread over the mountains and touched the farmlands and houses. It looked very peaceful. She watched the big man surrounded by his own kind until he drew away and started up the path. He was carrying his pack at least. Maybe he wasn't coming to tell her he was staying with them. She felt a twinge of apprehension. Maybe he was.

"Hey, Sally.", Hawk called, approaching the top of the path. He knew Halnet was watching him through field glasses far below. Sally stepped out of the brush she had her camp behind. She was fully covered in Brotherhood armor with the helmet on.

"How did it go?", she asked. Hawk motioned for her to step onto the path. "Come out and wave to our new friends.", he grinned. Sally stepped forward. If Hawk said they were friends, that was good enough for her. She looked down the path, then removed her helmet. Raising a gloved hand, she waved at the group far below, then turned to the big mutant. "Well, come on, tell me about it.", she said. "What's that you're carrying?", she added curiously, trying to get a good look at what appeared to be a woven basket with a closed top.

Halnet watched Hawk stop at the top of the path, then saw the small armored figure materialize from the side of the path. She turned toward her and removed her helmet. She was too far away to make out her features clearly but she could see the red hair, flowing about her, glowing like a flame in the morning sun. The tiny human woman waved at her. Halnet slowly lowered the glasses. Hawk's partner, his reason for staying in the wasteland. He had mentioned her with obvious fondness. She wondered how she was going to feel when she finally got to meet this human.

Hawk laughed, holding out the basket to Sally as he followed her to the camp. "Halnet sent this for you. She thought you might like a warm breakfast after being up here all night." "Really?", Sally asked excitedly, digging in the basket. She pulled out a wrapped cloth and a small jar. She unwrapped the cloth, to discover a couple of biscuit and meat sandwiches. "Which one is Halnet ?", she asked, opening the jar to find it contained a gelatinous, pinky orange mass. "What's this stuff?", she asked, sniffing at it. It sure smelled good. "She's the one with brown hair. She made that, its apple jelly. You should try it, it's really good.", Hawk answered. "There's a butter knife in there too."

She searched the basket and retrieved the knife and 2 apples. Taking the knife she spread some of the jelly onto a biscuit, asking "She's the one you stayed with last night, right? Is she the leader?" Hawk looked a little uncomfortable as he replied, "Um, no they don't really have a leader. They pretty much make decisions as a group. Right now Dalgarth is the arbiter. He just acts like kind of a judge if there's a disagreement."

She bit into the sandwich. "Wow!", she said, "This is delicious! If Halnet made this you should marry her!" She was concentrating on her meal so she didn't notice the look on Hawk's face.

Sally spread jelly on the second sandwich. "Halnet", she said. "Dalgarth. Did you meet some of the others?" "Yeah, there was Martus and Reela, they're a couple, then there's Lillid and Bangal, they're the other unattached females. I really don't remember all the names of the rest of them. Oh, yeah, Sora, she's Dalgarth's wife." Sally eyed him suspiciously. He knew the names of the unattached females, eh?

"Okay, but I've been wondering. You were all human before you changed, but none of you have human names now. Why is that? What was your human name, Hawk?" Hawk's mouth set in a grim line. "Sally, you need to understand this. When the change happens, you don't have that life anymore. The human is dead. You choose a new name and a new life and you move on. That was someone else. You don't live in the past." "What happens if you can't?", she asked quietly, the food forgotten. "Then you go crazy, or feral, or you die. Those of us still here have chosen to forget our pasts. Leave it alone."

"I'm sorry Hawk.", she said softly. He nodded. Sally bit into her sandwich. She would never bring up this subject again with Hawk, but that didn't mean she would forget about it.

"If you're done eating, we better head on out .", Hawk said drily. "You wanted to get that suit back to the Brotherhood and I have some items to find." Sally felt a wave of relief. She had been afraid he would want to stay in the valley. She smiled brightly at him. "Sure, let's go.", she said, brushing the last of the crumbs from her hands.

It had begun snowing only two weeks after they had left the mountains and had continued to snow for several days. Sally opted to stay out of the mountains until spring. Hawk had finally made a trip by himself in mid-winter when Sally went off on a mission of her own, which she did occasionally. He had brought the items the residents had requested and had stayed with Halnet. They played cards by the fire in the cold evenings. He was quite good at it as he often played with traders or soldiers or with wastelanders in bars. It was a peaceful interlude, but he knew it couldn't last. After less than a week he was restless and anxious to return to the wasteland and Sally. Halnet watched him go with a pang of jealousy. She wasn't going to see him again before spring.

The winter presented the usual problems with scavenging and aiding wastelanders. Staying warm was sometimes an issue when in the wasteland but they had long ago learned how to survive under all kinds of circumstances. Sally could still locate food items and both she and Hawk had become quite good at tracking and hunting. There was abundant wildlife if one knew how to find it. The winter passed into spring and Sally finally made a journey with Hawk to the settlement to meet the other mutants.

Halnet was taken with the vibrantly alive woman. Observing them together she knew Hawk would never stay in the Settlement, never completely belong to her. She made her peace with that and accepted Sally into the mutant community. They were traders and scavengers and nothing was going to change that. Sally didn't seem to be aware there was any problem. She was delighted to be asked to attend at the ceremony that joined Hawk and Halnet together in marriage. After a week the partners left the Settlement together to go back to work, leaving Halnet with the promise that Hawk would try to return at least once a month.

Chapter 16

Sally sat on the open top floor of the tall building overlooking the river. It was a beautiful early summer evening. They didn't need a shelter and this was a good vantage point. She had a nice fire going and was roasting a large chunk of the wild cow they had come across. It smelled quite good, roasted with the potatoes she had scavenged and the leaves of a wasteland herb. She had set out some Nuka Colas for Hawk and a beer for herself to go with the meal. They had been to the Settlement where they gone for a week for Hawk to celebrate his first anniversary of his marriage to Halnet before hitting the wasteland. It had been a good year and they were doing well. They had picked up a lot of salvage and some good trade items and were in DC to do some bargaining.

Hawk was on his stomach watching the river below through his binoculars. He watched the traffic to keep track of which trading ships were passing. They had some goods to take to one of the posts when they finished resting here. Scavenging and trading were their business.

"There's a new ship on the river," he said. "Really? Let me take a look". Sally picked up her sniper rifle and peered through the scope. She could see a strange looking ship with tall, bare masts slowly moving past toward the Citadel dock. She focused on the figure barely visible in the glass enclosed, small room at the top of the ship. "_An easy_ _shot"_, ran through her mind, and was immediately dismissed. She had no intention of killing him. "What kind of ship is that?", she asked. Hawk was a voracious reader and a veritable fount of information.

"It's a sailing ship. They used them in the open ocean. This one has a motor back up though, that's what's powering her now. Probably one of the last ones made when they were running out of fossil fuel and were heavy into solar and nuclear. See that little room at the top? That's the control room, the whole outside of it is covered in solar wrap. That's what would be providing all her power except for the engines. They're probably fueled by a mini-nuclear plant. That would be her captain in there guiding her." "Nice", Sally observed. "What's the name painted on her side?" Hawk moved the binoculars to find what Sally was referring to. "It says 'Tradewind'." Sally considered this. "Good name for a trading ship." Hawk grunted.

Sally swung the rifle up to observe the captain as he stepped out on deck. Tall, muscular, bronze hair. "Let me have those glasses, would you Hawk?" she asked. "I'd like a better look at this." He handed them over. She focused again on the captain with the high powered lenses. Oh, yeah. Craggy good looks, superb body beneath that loose garb, open down his chest to reveal the soft curl of hair going downward into the waist, strong arms, soft thick hair, young and virile looking. She felt a frisson of heat pulse through her body. She had felt it before at the sight of desirable men, but it had always turned cold when she got to know them. What few kisses she had tried had done nothing for her. Still…..

Hawk glanced at her, studying the ship intently through the glasses. She seemed inordinately fascinated with it. "It has crew quarters and a galley beneath the control room, that's what looks like a story built on the deck, and storage under the decks for cargo and the ship's engines, I expect. Looks like it was modified for trading. It's small enough to navigate the river but looks sturdy enough to withstand the ocean. It's riding high, so she should be able to go all the way upstream to the blockage at the Super Duper Mart. Since it's a two mast it can probably go pretty fast in open water. You seem to be pretty interested in it. "

"Hmm, mmm,", Sally responded, only half listening as she watched the man stride about the deck, talk to one of the crew, lean over the rail studying the river bank. He went back into the door in the front of the deck Hawk had said was probably quarters, then reappeared in the control room. She handed the glasses back to Hawk. "Very nice.", she grinned.

She spent a pleasant hour daydreaming about the attractive captain while she finished cooking dinner, only half listening to Hawk's running commentary on the passing ships and pedestrians below. It was late but in the morning they would head on down to the Citadel to trade, they had made a good haul this trip. Maybe she would see what the Tradewind had to offer.

They rose early to watch the sunrise, but didn't go directly to the trading post. After several weeks in the wasteland she felt like she could stink out a Death Claw. Stopping by the river in a deserted spot, well upstream of the post, she stripped off her armor in the early morning light. It was barely dawn, few people would be venturing out. She walked into the river and began to clean her uniform.

Jack was sweeping the banks with his binoculars, making sure there was no sign of danger before leaving the Tradewind. He stopped, focusing in on the strange tableau at the river's side. A young girl had stripped to her camisole, while a large mutant stood alertly behind her. He watched as she stepped into the river, holding a uniform. He checked out the mutant, obviously standing guard while the girl bathed. A large pack lay by his feet, a smaller one beside it. Interesting bulges testified the packs were stuffed with something.

He turned his attention back to the girl as she tossed the uniform to the big guy. He caught it and carefully laid it out on the rocks on shore. The girl dove under the water and came up, shaking her head. He could tell she was washing her hair. He watched enthralled, until she came out of the water. The camisole clung to every curve of her tight body as she bent to pick up the rifle. The big mutant put down his mini gun and stripped off his outer garments to carry them in the water and repeat the girl's performance while the girl stood guard.

Aaron came up behind him. "Hey, Captain, what have you been looking at for so long?" he asked. Jack straightened up from the rail he had been leaning on. "You can see some strange things in the DC Wasteland", he said. "There's a woman taking a bath downstream, you can hardly see them, this side of the shore." He handed the binoculars to Aaron. "So what's so strange about that?" he asked, looking where Jack had directed. "Oh. I guess it isn't every day you see one bathing with a super mutant. I'd like to be that guy right now, that garment isn't hiding much.", he said admiringly. Jack reached over and retrieved the glasses. "Well, that's their business, ours is trading, so we'd better get back to it."

Hawk emerged from the river, shaking to dry himself as much as possible. They both slipped back into their wet armor with practiced ease. Picking up their packs, they headed for the Black Stone where they usually had meals when in town. No one would care if they were wet, at least they didn't stink.

"Hey, Captain." The voice was that of a young woman. Jack leaned over the rail. "Hey, stranger, what can I do for you?" The woman was standing at the bottom of the gangplank, a strange helmet under her arm, dressed in Merc mercenary armor. The big mutant behind her had on a sturdy but well used suit of fine leather.

What Jack noticed was the shoulder length, flowing red gold hair gleaming in the late afternoon sun, shoved back to reveal an attractive oval face with stormy grey eyes. A long scar from eye to mouth marred the otherwise smooth tanned skin. He recognized them as the couple that had been bathing in the river.

"Would you be interested in trading?" asked the girl. "Hold on, I'll be right down." Jack strode down the gangplank. Sally watched him, the long loose stride and easy grace doing funny things to her insides. He stopped in front of her, looking her over. "What would a mercenary have to trade?" he asked. Sally looked up, her eyes meeting his. For a moment she was frozen as a jolt passed through her. She could drown in those wonderful, golden cat eyes.

Sally tore her gaze away and glanced at her uniform. She laughed a surprisingly light laughter. "You mean this armor? It was the best I could do I'm afraid. It didn't come cheap though. The previous owner was reluctant to give it up. Anyway I'm not a mercenary, just a scavenger looking to trade."

Jack looked into the stormy grey eyes and felt a strange awareness, almost a feeling of familiarity. He couldn't have met her before, he would surely have remembered the shining bright hair, mesmerizing eyes and tight vibrant form.

He doubted she was an ordinary scavenger, young though she was. He eyed the big mutant. If he was her companion, then he wasn't a feral. "I'm Jack Lelland, captain of the Tradewind. Come on aboard and we'll see what we have", he said. Sally grinned, "I'm Sally Weston, and this is my partner Hawk."

Odd indeed, Jack thought, but he wasn't familiar with this land. Maybe the super mutants here were more civilized. Sally followed him up the gangplank, Hawk close behind her. She decided she liked watching Jack walk very much. He had a nice butt.

The trading went well. Sally was surprisingly good at her craft and got a fair price for the weapons she had picked up, mostly from adversaries although Jack didn't have to know that. He knew he could sell them for a good price in Baton Rouge, where they were scarcer. Sally pocketed her caps and the voucher for the fruit and cotton cloth she would receive when she left.

"Did you stop at Rivet City on the way in?", she asked. "That big place that looked like a warship?",he responded. "That's the place." "No, there seemed to be a battle going on there. I didn't want to get caught in the middle of it. We'll probably stop on the way back to the sea." "Yeah, you should. It's got a decent market place in there. What about the Island? Did you stop there? It's got a nice jetty, and its safe enough if you don't go far inland."

Jack nodded. "You've been there, then?", he asked. "Yeah, there's a paddle boat goes there. It often docks near Rivet City or the Citadel and does some trading. The owner's a friend of mine, maybe you'll run into her at a dock sometime." "I'll keep an eye out for her on the river.", he said.

"I haven't seen your ship on the river before.", Sally said. "You're new to the DC Wasteland?" "Yes, this is our first trip up this river. We sailed up from the bay of New Orleans to see what the trading possibilities are." Sally nodded. "I can give you some tips on the DC if you'd like." Jack grinned a devilishly attractive grin. Sally again felt the frisson of heat sneak through her.

"I'd appreciate any information you can give me. I was wondering about Hawk. We don't have many mutants like him back home, but the ones we do come across are crazy mean. Hawk seems civilized and intelligent." Sally glanced over to where the subject of their conversation was watching the landing, a laser rifle across his lap.

"He is.", she agreed. "But any Super Mutants you come across in DC are going to be berserkers, and they'll try to kill you. Run if you can or kill them, but don't try to reason with them. They'll eat you alive. Literally", she added grimly. They went on to discuss other dangers in the wasteland, comparing them to the ones around the New Orleans Bay area.

Sally was curious. All the maps she had ever seen were from before the war, and she hadn't thought much about the areas outside the DC Wasteland. "New Orleans bay?", she asked. "Not a city any more?" He shook his head. "The city, what's left of it, is under 60 feet of water with a lot of the rest of the southern part of the old state. There's some small settlements that have sprung up on the Bay, but the only large city left near the bay is Baton Rouge. I grew up in that area."

She thought about this. "I take it the Florida Isles are just a series of islands where Florida used to be." "That's right, it took quite a few hits during the war too. The islands can be pretty dangerous places, they're overrun with wildlife and ferals, though there's a few settlements on them. I stop there, they have interesting fruit and produce to trade." Sally looked out over the water, her adventurous spirit roused. "I'd like to take a look at them someday", she said. Jack smiled and their conversation drifted onto the products most likely to be profitable in the Bay and Florida Isle areas.

"This is a fine vessel, Captain", Sally observed. "Do you take passengers?" "We do have a couple of rooms we can let for a fee, if you're going our way. We're heading North right now, to see what trading posts are up that way."

Sally nodded. "There's a couple places we've traded at, you shouldn't have much trouble if you avoid the Mutants and raiders. You're at the Citadel now. I don't know if they've given you any trouble, but mention my name and they should allow you to trade with them, though they probably won't let you in the gate. If you plan on trading with the Enclave, though, you might not want to mention knowing me. They seem to have taken a dislike to me. Anyway we only want to go as far as the Super Duper Mart. You can only go a little farther than that upriver, you won't be able to get this ship past the Super Duper Mart. When I see the traders I'll let them know you're on the river and maybe some stops could be arranged."

"I appreciate that. I think we could put you up for 120 caps each. That wouldn't include dinner or breakfast though. Your friend here looks like he could eat as much as my whole crew."

Sally laughed again. "What do you think Hawk, could you?" she teased. Hawk grunted. "Probably as much as three anyway.", Hawk replied. Sally grinned.

"When do you plan to leave port?" "It's late now, we'll leave at first light." "We'll go on over to the Black Rock and get some dinner, then come back here and stay on the ship. Don't worry about breakfast, we'll get something at the next port. Oh, and we'll only need one room. All right with you?" "I'll make it 150 caps for both of you then.", he said.

Sally was sitting on the built in bench on the deck, a shotgun lying loosely across her lap. She had changed into a loose wasteland outfit, much more comfortable than the Merc armor she wore in the wasteland. The crew were admiring the sleek, voluptuous form, even as they cast wary glances at the big mutant sitting near her, watching the city glide by. They weren't sure about his relationship with the woman. They couldn't fail to notice that she was openly admiring the physically fit crew members. Jack wouldn't hire a man who couldn't hold his own.

Carl grinned at Mike. "I think she wants a little company", he said. Mike chuckled, "Then why don't you go talk to her? You're off duty for a couple of hours yet." He grinned. "I don't think the mutant will kill you.", he added.

Carl approached the red-haired woman cautiously, eyeing the big mutant who seemed to be ignoring him. "Good evening, Ma'am", he said respectfully. "May I join you?" Sally smiled up at him and motioned to the empty space beside her on the bench. "Have a seat," she said. Carl grinned and sat down beside the young woman. Except for the scar she was very attractive, and even that seemed to have a strange appeal.

The other men watched jealously as Carl and Sally talked and laughed, until he had to go on duty. But they did notice that she wasn't flirting with him, she just seemed to be enjoying some company. Mike was going off duty, maybe he'd try his luck.

Sally rose, said goodnight to Carl as he went off to do his shift on guard duty, and headed to her room, disappointing Mike. Hawk rose silently from his post and followed the little scavenger into their room. The pair caused a flurry of speculation amid the crew. The mutant rarely talked and always seemed to be wherever the girl was.

They left the ship at the Super Duper Mart. After introducing Jack to the traders there Sally and Hawk headed toward home. The road from the Mart to Megaton was fairly safe since they regularly used it, clearing out raiders, bandits, and other vermin as they went. They stayed alert even so, as dangerous wildlife and humans were likely to pop up at any time.

They were carrying the freshly butchered Mirelurk that had attacked them by the river as they disembarked, as well as a load of fresh fruit and cotton cloth from Baton Rouge that would bring a premium price at the Megaton store or Tennpenny Tower. They had sold most of their items at the Citadel trading post before hailing the Tradewind so she had a good store of caps to add to their stash. She would finally be able to pay a master craftsman to make another good suit of leather armor and good strong boots to fit Hawk. He was pretty hard on his armor, although to be fair she went through them pretty fast herself.

While trading at the Citadel Sally had taken on a job to get fungus from the kids at Little Lamplight for the Citadel scientists. They seemed to have some ideas for making products from the fungus that Sally would investigate if it panned out. In the meantime it would pay her well. She had requested a power suit even though it probably wasn't needed on this job, but she had other things in mind as well where it might be useful. In order to get the fungus Elder Lyons had agreed to the loan as well as a small payment for her time. The kids wouldn't trade with the Brotherhood so Sally was their best option to get it.

Sally and Hawk greeted the dawn from the balcony before heading down to the Brass Tavern for breakfast. She had given Hawk the heavy power armor to carry as she didn't need it yet. She wore the lighter mercenary armor she currently favored as she could move quicker and with greater ease. Hawk paused while she delivered pure water to the beggar before they headed out.

Sally crouched on the hill and studied the behemoth's camp through field glasses. She had skirted it before, but it was time to remove the menace from the wasteland. She checked her supply of nuka-grenades and bottle cap mines. "You can't do this alone.", Hawk said, watching her preparations. "I know, but can you control yourself? Running in all berserker is going to cause us a lot of problems. This is going to require strategy."

"What did you have in mind?", Hawk asked and listened as she outlined her plans. "Maybe you should put on the power armor.", he said worriedly. Sally considered. "No, I don't think it would matter much if I took a direct hit. Behemoths are powerful but not too fast, so I think I stand a better chance if I can move quick." Hawk wasn't happy with this but she was probably right.

"Where do you think he's at right now?", Sally asked, handing Hawk the glasses. He studied the camp, set up in the mouth of a filled in train tunnel. It was a jumble of train cars and stakes, with skulls and gore bags decorating them, marking the camp as belonging to super mutants. They had spotted the behemoth on previous trips. It had set up a simple trap crafted of old shopping carts entrapping a teddy bear. Humans were always curious and would usually try to free the bear, just because it was there. Stupid, maybe, but that's how humans were. This would cause the behemoth to come running to reclaim its stuffed prize. Hawk wasn't even sure the trap was intentional as the creature had limited intelligence, but it was effective. The many human skulls attested to that.

"He's probably around behind the camp. He could come from either side.", he said. "Yeah, that's what I thought too. Well, better get on with it." Sally pulled a psycho from her pack. "Do you really have to do that?", Hawk asked. "It isn't safe." Sally waved at the tunnel. "That isn't safe! I need all the advantage I can get. This makes me faster and more agile so I can avoid injury. Don't worry, if I get addicted Dr. Church will take care of it." She injected the drug, stood up and slipped down toward the camp.

She moved carefully to one side of the camp and placed several mines in a row, then moved to the other side and placed more mines there. She then took out a nuka-grenade, making sure the rest were accessible in her belt. She approached the cage carefully, alert to any sounds or movement. With a quick motion she sprung open the cage, leapt to her feet and ran past the mines toward the hill where Hawk waited.

The loud roar and the rumbling of the earth assured her the behemoth was right behind her. One explosion, then another shook the land. She whirled, hurling the nuka-grenade at the huge creature, then took off again. He screamed as it went off at his feet. She whirled again and hurled another. He was almost too close now! Even as the explosion ripped through him the rattle of Hawk's mini-gun told her he had joined the battle. She ducked as the giant club swept toward her and whipped out her combat rifle. He was much too close for another grenade. Hawk was on top of him now, firing rapidly. Sally emptied her clip and hit the ground, rolling out of range as the creature swung wildly. Leaping to her feet she quickly snapped in another clip and joined Hawk's fire with her own. In a hail of bullets the gigantic creature toppled and fell, barely missing Hawk as it crashed down.

Sally stood beside the huge body, gasping for breath, eyes blazing, bursting with adrenaline. Slowly she circled the giant form, watching for any sign of movement, of life. She found none. Hawk came up beside her and studied the deceased brethren. Without a word he turned to scavenge what he could from the camp while she retrieved the remaining mines and searched the behemoth. The main objective had been accomplished. The behemoth was no longer a threat and they were unharmed. Sally walked down and took the teddy bear from its supermarket cart cage. It would go on her trophy table with the other mementos of her triumphs.

Neither had been injured but it had been a tiring battle. They decided to retreat back to the church just over the hill to rest and recuperate before continuing on. It should be safe enough since they had liberated it from the raiders who had set up camp there. There were even mattresses they could spend the night on. They were only slightly less dirty than the ground, but a bit more comfortable. They could have a fire and some warm food too, to help fortify them. Tomorrow they would take off west toward Little Lamplight.

Sally knew that the train tracks led from the behemoth's camp to a valley that housed a large raider encampment. She had first spotted it when searching for her Dad with Charon. Since then she had heard reports of atrocities and missing persons in the area. She decided to check out the encampment. It wasn't far from the church.

There was no way she was going to follow the tracks into that well patrolled valley. They headed up the side of the hill, the same way she had gone with Charon. Reaching the top, Sally had Hawk wait back out of sight while she crept to the edge. She peered over and studied the encampment through the scope of her sniper rifle. They were far away but not out of reach. Guards patrolled the tops of the train cars, elevated walkways crossing the valley, and along the ground. At the far side of the valley, just within her sight, was a cage that contained humans. A large, round, covered enclosure in the middle of the valley was sparking with energy. Sally studied the tiny figures looking like insects walking about. She made up her mind.

Sighting in on a guard she pulled the trigger. The man fell without a sound. Methodically she crept along the edge, taking out guards carefully, without rousing the camp. By starting at the enclosed end and working toward the mouth of the valley she was increasing the odds of taking out the most guards without alarming the camp. When she finally reached the end and could spot no more movement, she hurried back to Hawk.

The only way to get into the camp was through the valley. Pulling out her combat rifle they headed into the valley. The way in was littered with mines which she had to take the time to disarm, in case she had to run for it. She made it into the camp and headed up the first ramp onto the walkways before the first surviving raider spotted them.

Shooting from above she had the advantage. With Hawk on the ground they swiftly finished the raiders that had come from shacks and buildings. She now began the job of searching each building for hold outs. The first building was a small supply shack. It contained many useful items but no raiders. The second was a lodge type building. A male and female emerged from a bedroom, both armed and ready to kill. Sally didn't hesitate to kill the scantily clad woman firing at them with a handgun.

Sally went on up the stairs past the bodies and into the bedroom. She did a quick search, but found little of interest. She hurried back downstairs and did a quick search of the remainder of the house. Finding no more raiders she went out.

Other than the circular pen and the slave pens, there was only the largest, most interesting building to search, the old Evergreen foundry. Before going into the building she freed the slaves and advised them to hurry from the area as quickly as possible. They didn't need any urging. She watched to make sure they got away and then headed toward the locked enclosure leading into the foundry.

Sally vaguely noticed the motorcycle sitting beside the gate. She had noticed these machines before and they intrigued her, but at the moment she had no time for them. The lock was being difficult and she concentrated on picking it. Finally it gave and the gate swung open. Sally started inside.

Suddenly Hawk yelled a warning. Sally flung herself forward and down as the motorcycle exploded, sending shrapnel slamming past her, accompanied by the rattle of Hawk's mini-gun. Hitting the ground hard she rolled to the side and leapt to her feet, facing the gate, rifle up, but the raider was already dead, lying in a pool of blood past the flaming machine. Hawk strolled past her and they headed for the building.

The foundry almost proved to be a disappointment. They took out three raiders on the ground floor, one on the upper stairwell, and another two on the top level. There was good salvage here, more than they would be able to take out, but Sally had expected more considering the concentration of raiders. Going down a hall into an office area didn't yield any more information. All the computers were non-functional. They were on their way out of the building when Hawk pointed out a door they had missed on the way in, probably because they had been under heavy fire.

It didn't take Sally long to pick the lock on this door. Once inside they saw that the room had a large hole blasted in the middle, and a ramp going down into a dirt tunnel. They didn't even hesitate. That was obviously the way to go.

Sally motioned Hawk to stay well behind her. Smaller and stealthier, she could creep up on the opening and assess the situation. Once she had determined the positions of the raiders in the large cave like area she slipped back to Hawk and they formulated their plan. The raiders on the upper level across the cavern were too far away to hit with rifles, so Sally took the missile launcher from Hawk. He would wait until she had launched a volley of missiles into the upper caverns and then he would dash forward and take out any resistance on the lower floor.

The plan worked almost as expected. The missiles took out most of the raiders, but one continued to fire at them as they sped into the cavern. Sally had dropped the missile launcher and now flung herself behind a boulder, taking out her sniper rifle. Hawk was dealing with the raiders on that level pretty efficiently. As the man on the upper level raised up to fire at Hawk she took him down with one shot. Switching her sniper for her combat rifle she hurried forward to help Hawk. He was standing by a kitchen area, scanning for any movement. There wasn't any.

Hawk and Sally moved on up the ramps to the upper area. A man stood behind a counter, both hands in the air. "Whoa, hold on," he said. "I don't have any problem with you guys." Sally scanned the area, then lowered her rifle. With Hawk watching her back, she slowly approached the man. "Who are you?", she asked. He lowered his hands to place them flat on the top of the counter. "My name's Smiling Jack. I'm a trader here. If you want to trade, I don't have any problem with that, but hurry it up. I don't want anyone to see you talking to me."

"I don't think that'll be a problem.", Sally said dryly. "Let's see what you've got." She traded some ammo she didn't use for some she could and sold him several innocuous items. "You know the camp's dead, right?", Sally asked. Smiling Jack replied, "Yeah, well, only the ones that were here. There'll be more coming in I expect after you leave, so I'm not going anywhere. If you can make it back in here, you're welcome to come trade, but don't expect a warm welcome from them out there." Sally laughed. "Thanks for the warning. Good trading, Smiling Jack.", she said. "Try to stay whole.", he responded.

The only way out was the way they had come in. They raided the kitchen and had a hearty hot meal before making their way back out of the building. It took several hours to search the camp thoroughly and by then it was very late at night. They spent the night on the beds in the lodge. At least they were clean, to Sally's delight.

Chapter 17

The early morning light filtered into the bedroom, highlighting the dust motes sparkling in the light. Sally stretched and rose to stand at the window briefly before going to wake Hawk. They headed down to raid the kitchen for breakfast. "I think we need to change our plans.", Sally said with a yawn. "There's too much stuff in here to leave it. We should take what we can home. It's not that far. If we make a couple trips a day we can get everything of value in a couple of days." "It would make it worth the cost of cleaning up this place.", Hawk agreed.

After breakfast they checked out the energized enclosure. Sally wasn't surprised to find it contained a Behemoth super mutant. She had no idea what the raiders were doing with the creature, other than feeding it wastelanders. The bones and skulls in the enclosure indicated that. Well, she had no fondness for the stupid, savage creatures, but she wouldn't just leave it here to starve either. She loaded the entrance with mines of various kinds and then went to the controls.

While Hawk focused on the entrance, from some distance away, she let the creature out. Its first step into freedom left it mortally wounded amidst an impressive display of explosive power. It didn't take much to complete the job. Sally checked the big corpse but found nothing of interest, so they took what salvage they could carry and headed back up the train tracks.

As Sally had predicted it took only two days to clean out most of the goods. They chatted with Smiling Jack a couple of times. He wasn't inclined to interfere when he had seen for himself what they had done. At least they didn't raid his stocks, so he was happy to let them be. Before they left on the second day Sally told him he could claim anything they left behind, and she might be back occasionally to trade with him, but if she heard he was committing any atrocities or dealing in slaves she would be back, and not to trade. He took the warning seriously.

The trip to Little Lamplight took most of two days, due to Sally's proclivity for checking out anything she found interesting. They did manage to pick up more salvage, and a couple of minor injuries, in the process, but no more than was usual. They left behind only a few raider bodies and a couple of radscorpions, now missing their poison glands.

They approached Little Lamplight in the late evening. The kids were happy to see them as Sally always brought useful and welcome provisions. The fungus was their main source of income and Sally always paid well for it. Having completed her trading and social duties Sally curled up on an empty bed, Hawk on several piled close by, for a good night's sleep. Tomorrow she was entering Vault 87 for the first time since Hawk's rescue.

They stood in the small, odd metal room that was the entrance to Vault 87 from the caverns. "Are you sure you're all right with this?", Sally asked anxiously. "I know it's been nearly 3 years since you left here, but you were imprisoned here an awfully long time. Would you rather wait out here?" "No.", Hawk said. "It doesn't bother me. I can carry a lot more than you can."

Sally hesitated, but Hawk was, after all, old enough to know his own mind. She would take him at his word. She typed in the password and they moved into the vault. The next room was empty except for a couple of radroaches that Hawk stomped. They checked the containers and took a few saleable items then moved into the hall.

The bodies of the super mutants had deteriorated to skeletons. They stepped over the bones and headed up the stairs. They moved from floor to floor, gathering and sorting items, storing what they weren't going to carry out for later retrieval. She was going through some drawers in a residential room when Sally found the negligee.

She pulled out the slip of filmy material and held it up, staring longingly at the soft, blue perfect garment. She reluctantly started to return it to the drawer when Hawk spoke up. "You should keep it.", he said. "Do you think so?", she asked uncertainly. "It can't be worth much." He laughed. "That depends on what you do with it. If you like it you should keep it. It doesn't weigh much so I think we can afford to carry it home." Sally considered him for a moment, then grinned, carefully folding the light material into a small square and tucking it in her pack. Even if she never dared to wear it she could still enjoy its soft beauty.

They made their way up to the third floor without running into any mutants. It was usual procedure for Sally to hack into every working computer she came across, so she knew it wouldn't make him suspicious spending so much time hacking and reading. It was in the science lab clinic that she found what she was searching for: the statistics on the FEV experiments. She left Hawk scavenging while she read all the entries. She finally found the one she was searching for, the experiment in the room where she had found him.

She stared at the picture accompanying the statistics. Anger writhed through her belly at the arrogance of the old order that allowed them to turn a handsome young Special Services Agent into a super soldier without his consent. She read the entire file before shutting down the computer and locking it. No one else ever needed to see that record, especially Hawk.

The hall was empty when Sally went out but she could hear noises coming from an adjacent room. She found Hawk sorting through items he had placed on a table. "I found mention of a locker with a radiation suit in it.", she said. "But I don't know where the locker is. Have you found one?"

"There was one down by the hall where the Geck was that was locked.", Hawk said thoughtfully. "That's probably where they would keep it." "Well, I don't think we need to go to that floor where the cells are. Not now anyway, we have more than we can take out anyway. How about we head on out? We can check Murder Pass and make sure it's clear, I didn't get to do that when I was here before. The kids are pretty good at taking care of themselves, but it doesn't hurt to keep the mutants out if we can. Why do you think there aren't any here now? Wouldn't they have come back in after we left?"

"Probably, but I locked the main entrance when I left and they don't have the intelligence to hack the computer.", Hawk said. Sally blinked. "So any that were left in here were locked in. I expect the kids have shot 'em all by now if they tried to go out that way, or else they made it out, but we'll check anyway. There could be a few die hards still holding out in the tunnels."

"I doubt it.", Hawk replied. "That's the way the Enclave came when they took you out. I expect they killed any that were in the tunnels. At least the kids had sense enough to hide instead of trying to fight the Enclave and they weren't interested in hunting down a bunch of kids, so they weren't hurt." Sally already knew that since she had traded with the kids a few times over the last 3 years, though she had avoided the vault out of consideration for Hawk. They were sensible children.

That left the unanswered question. They both knew there weren't any mutants left in the vault or tunnels. They had been killed years ago and Hawk knew they couldn't get back in. So why had he insisted on accompanying her? Had he suspected what she was looking for and wanted to know if she found it? Or did it really not bother him to come back to this place of imprisonment? In spite of Hawk's assurances he was all right with it Sally wouldn't go into the hall where the cells were.

It takes time to scavenge out a vault, so the week they spent in Vault 87 wasn't unusual. Once the gathering, sorting and inventory was done they left through the tunnels, locking the entrance behind them. The tunnels were clear of mutants and had been cleaned out by the Lamplighters, so there was nothing here to take. They rearranged the items, leaving some for the kids, storing others, and taking what they could carry. They had to take the fungus back as that was the ostensible reason for coming here.

After spending a night in the Lamplighter's Great Cavern on empty mattresses they left early enough to catch the sunrise as they exited the caves. Sally had a goal in mind. She had heard about a Death Claw breeding cave in the northern mountains that might contain a Bobble head. That's why she had the power armor. You couldn't outrun a Death Claw, so she would have to rely on her ability to sneak and hide, or on the armors capabilities if she was to retrieve the toy. And she wanted that toy.

Sally was crouched behind a large boulder, barely peering over it with her field glasses as she studied the entrance to the Death Claw cave in the next mountain. She had been watching them for most of the day while Hawk sat beside her, scanning the landscape to make sure nothing sneaked up on them. "I don't see anything moving. They must have all gone into the cave.", Sally said, rising to stretch.

She handed the glasses to Hawk. "I'm just going to take a peek. I'll be right back." As she started around the boulder, she startled a young Death Claw just making its way toward the cave. With a roar it leaped at her, slicing wildly with its huge claws. Sally reacted instantly, hurling herself sideways as the razor sharp claws caught her armor, slicing it neatly into several pieces. Hawk rushed forward, the whir of his mini-gun suddenly erupting into a slam of bullets. Sally hit the ground, rolling rapidly to her feet, jerking out her combat rifle as she came up. The creature slid to the ground amid the hail of lead.

"Damn!", Sally exclaimed, examining her armor. "This suits shot." She kicked the carcass irritably. "What was it still doing out anyway? The rest are already in. Guess I'd better change now." Hawk didn't bother to say anything. He knew her show of temper was her way of dealing with the fear the incident had caused. At least only the suit was ruined, Sally barely sustained a scratch.

Their packs sat on the ground where they had left them while they staked out the cave. Now Sally dug in Hawk's pack and pulled out the power armor. She quickly shed the merc armor and put it on. "You're going in now?", Hawk asked. "I'll give it another hour. They should all be deep in the cave asleep by then. I hope I don't ruin this armor, I don't have any more at home. I'm going to be stuck with this until I can pick up my vault armor from the Citadel. They should have it repaired by the time we get back.", she mused.

The hour passed without further incident. No more Death Claws were sighted wandering about. Sally left the shelter of the boulder and moved smoothly and quietly to the mouth of the cave. Hawk would wait here for her, watching to make sure no stragglers took her by surprise.

Sally slipped down the entrance tunnel without making a sound. At the bottom she looked about cautiously. There it was, not far from the entrance, on a slab of stone. It wasn't the only thing in the cavern though. A large Death Claw lounged at the far side, its back to her at the moment. Sally considered. She hadn't come here to clean them out, so far as she knew they didn't wander far and posed no immediate threat to anyone. She decided on stealth.

Carefully she removed a Stealth Boy and activated it. She moved forward very slowly. Whenever the big creature turned in her direction she froze, when it looked away she moved ahead. It took a while but she reached the toy and cautiously removed it, stuffing it in a pocket. Her eye was caught by a debris pile further in to her left. She continued forward, move, freeze, move as the Death Claw shifted. The pile turned out to contain a skeleton and some interesting items. She added them to her pockets. Now began the process of exiting the cave. It was slow and tedious, as Death Claws wandered in and out of the cavern, but she made it to the exit without incident, and without having to kill any more Death Claws.

Hawk heaved a sigh of relief as Sally exited the cave, smiling widely. "I did it, Hawk!", she said. "I went into the cave and raided it and I didn't kill a single one! What do you think of that?" He really thought he wished she wouldn't take so many chances. "Good job, I knew you could do it.", he said with forced enthusiasm. Sally beamed at his praise as they made their way toward home.

Sally sat at the small table in their house in Megaton and added up the caps they had made from the salvage on the trip to Vault 87. She called down to Hawk, who was reading in the armchair. "We have enough now. Let's go to the Citadel in the morning. By the time we get there and contract with the craftsman for your armor and boots, the Tradewind should be at anchor. We can catch a ride down to Rivet City. I left my Riley armor there to be repaired, so after I pick that up we can cut across to the library and I can sell these books we found. Then we can scout around the southern area, we haven't done much down there. How's that sound?" "Sure.", Hawk agreed, not looking up from his book.

They decided to stop at the Super Duper Mart on the way to the Citadel. They hadn't been there since leaving the Tradewind almost 4 weeks ago. Sally had helped an enterprising group of wastelanders set up a small trading shop in the store. They had managed to get some of the refrigeration units working, which helped keep items like mirelurk and fish fresh to sell to traders heading to Megaton and Tennpenny Tower or into DC. The proprietor was happy to see her and was glad she had talked Captain Lelland into bringing the Tradewind this far inland. They had done some good trades, and he had agreed to come back the next month. Sally was glad to hear this.

Sally sold them some extra weapons she had, and traded for some ammo they had acquired and some extra meds. She noted other scavengers had also helped stock the shelves of the fledgling store. The increased traffic between DC and the outer reaches of the wasteland would help the store to thrive and keep down the number of raiders and other vermin that might threaten its survival. She had repaired the store's guardian robot with parts she had scavenged from others, which also helped. She felt kind of responsible since she had destroyed it in the first place.

Having learned the Tradewind was due at the Super Duper Mart Trading Post in just a few days, Sally decided they would make a short trip back to Megaton to pick up more salvage and gossip, and return here in time to catch the Tradewind to the Citadel. Hawk wondered if this decision had anything to do with the Tradewind's crew, as they could have been at the Citadel in less than half a day from Megaton by walking through the DC area. Sally had seemed to take an intense interest in riding aboard the trading vessel. Hawk didn't ask.

They made it back to the Super Duper Mart in time to see the Tradewind coming in to anchor. The high riding vessel could get fairly close to shore, but they would have to lower a gangplank onto the ramp leading up to the main thorough fare. Sally stood on the hill over the river and watched as they came in, looking avidly for Jack. She felt a thrill of excitement as she spotted him at the rail of the sailing craft as it approached the ramp. She hurriedly turned away and headed for the Super Duper Mart. By the time he got there she was in conversation with the proprietor.

Jack waited while she finished her dealing with Larry, the post trader. "Hey, Captain Lelland.", Sally greeted him. "Hey, Miss Weston, Hawk.", he returned the greeting. He looked her over. "I see you're not wearing mercenary today." She laughed lightly. "No, I was on a mission for the Citadel. I just borrowed one of their suits. You can call me Sally." Jack raised an eyebrow. From what he had learned, no one 'borrowed' a suit from the Brotherhood, and how had she gotten trained in its use? You didn't just pick up power armor and put it on.

"Then you have to call me Jack.", he said. "All right Jack. I see you made it back. Do you think you'll be trading this area regularly then?" He nodded. "I should be able to make a circuit about once a month, weather permitting. And assuming we don't get taken by pirates." He grinned roguishly.

Her eyes widened. "Pirates? There's really pirates on the sea?", she asked. He laughed. "There's always thieves everywhere, whatever name they choose to go by. I've had a few run-ins." "Of course, I should've realized that. Well, I'll let you get on with your business here. I'll talk to you when you're done, I'll be around." He nodded. Sally strode off. Jack watched her go. "That's some woman, ain't she?", the proprietor asked admiringly. Jack grinned at him. "Yes she is. Here's what I've brought this time.", he added and they got down to talking trading.

Sally booked a ride on the Tradewind to take her and Hawk to Rivet City. The partners and Jack left the Tradewind together to go into the Citadel base. Jack was permitted to trade at the post after Sally vouched for him, but Sally and Hawk were permitted full access to the base. They went off to return the power armor, turn in the fungus they had been contracted to procur, and contract with the craftsman for his armor and boots. He grumbled about the cost, but she wasn't having any of it. Their craft was too dangerous.

Since the Tradewind was mooring at the Citadel for the night the duo ate dinner in the cantina, where they were always welcome. They gossiped with the Brotherhood and picked up a lot of interesting information. Most of the conversation this time centered around Jack and the Tradewind. It seemed the Commander was considering loosening trading up by opening a post outside the gates, so that traders didn't have access to the base. There was plenty of space, and the Brotherhood could protect the post. Free trade would stimulate the economy and encourage more decent residents to come into the area.

The trip on down to Rivet City went without incident. Sally lounged on the deck while Jack traded at the few stops in between. It felt good to trade her heavy armor for a light dress. She enjoyed the chance to let her guard down and rest. The Tradewind's crew were always on guard and they were good at their jobs. They had accepted Hawk and had even invited him to join a card game in the evening.

"Hey, Mike,", she said to the big sailor. "You sure you want to play poker with Hawk?" Mike started. "Why?", he asked suspiciously. "Is he a bad loser?" Sally laughed. "Naw, he just doesn't lose often. Don't underestimate him.", she warned him. "Uh, sure.", Mike said uncertainly. He would remember that later when he went to bed without any caps in his pocket.

Sally stopped at Rivet City long enough to have dinner at the small restaurant and pick up some gossip. She made her rounds of the trading booths and chatted to all the proprietors. She checked with the tradesman she had left her Reilly's armor with, but it wasn't repaired yet, though he promised to have it done the next time she came through. She made a call on Vera and Brian. Brian was fascinated with her stories of the Tradewind and pirates.

Hawk had gravitated to the top of the city ship to exchange words, and cards, with the ships guards. Sally never understood why guards insisted on playing with him, they nearly always lost. Having completed her social and business rounds on the ship she collected Hawk and they headed for the Jefferson Memorial to visit her step mother.

"Hey, Madison.", Sally greeted her step mother. "Hey, what have you been up to now?", Madison asked, eyeing her Vault 101 armor. It was in pretty good shape since she had just picked it up at the Citadel. She turned to greet Hawk. "My girl giving you any trouble?", she asked. Hawk grunted. "No more than usual." Sally rolled her eyes and Madison laughed.

The Memorial bunking areas were crowded so she decided to move on to the Library before dark. There were unused rooms there they could safely spend the night in before heading south into uncharted territory.

Chapter 18

Sally fired again and again. The Deathclaw was already on top of her, nearly close enough to gut her with its huge claws. It was a big one, and it wasn't the only one. Hawk was having a hard time holding his own as well. She backed up again against the cliff face, trying to get the dead bushes between them, hugging the wall behind her. Her foot went back... and met open air. The claw swiped toward her. She twisted to avoid the blow and felt the ground slip out from under her. She screamed as she plummeted down, hitting the ground with sudden jarring pain, and then blackness claimed her.

"Sally", Hawk yelled, delivering a final blow to the remaining Deathclaw. It had been nearly dead anyway, but not soon enough to keep it from sending Sally plunging into the cave. He knelt at the edge and looked down. It had to be 30 feet to the bottom, where Sally lay unmoving. It was a sheer drop.

Hawk shoved his gun in its scabbard and unwound a rope from his waist. It was only about 15 feet long, but it would have to do. He hoped it would hold his weight. He secured the rope around a large boulder and pulled it around his waist, as he had been taught centuries ago when he had been a soldier. He went over the edge. At the end of the rope he leaped out to avoid the rocks below to drop the remaining distance onto a sandy area.

Sally had come to and was looking up at him. "Don't move, Sally," he said worriedly. "How bad are you hurt?" She half grinned, then grimaced with pain. "I'm pretty sure my leg's broken. It's hard to tell about anything else, I pretty much hurt all over. I tried to roll when I hit, but I hit my leg against a boulder, I think."

"I need to get your pack off," Hawk said gently. "I don't have any stimpacks in mine." He felt along her neck and head, and they seemed all right, so he helped her to try to sit up. She managed to struggle to a sitting position, hampered by the pack still on her back, gritting her teeth against the pain. Hawk helped her out of the straps. Opening the nearly empty pack he pulled out a stimpack and injected her. It wouldn't heal the broken leg, but it would stop the pain and allow him to move her. He placed the pack against a boulder and lifted her, leaning her back against the pack. He straightened the broken leg. She barely grunted, though sweat was pouring off her forehead from the strain.

She seemed oddly lethargic for Sally. He frowned worriedly. "Do you think you have any internal injuries?", he asked. Sally shrugged, then grimaced. "I think I landed on my right side and rolled. My shoulder and hip feel pretty banged up, maybe I didn't get too much hurt inside. Help me get this armor off." He unclipped the armor and slid it from her shoulders. Sure enough he could see the bruising forming all down her right arm. She ran her hand over her abdomen. "It doesn't seem to be swelling.", she said. He carefully eased the leggings from her broken leg and then from the other one. The right thigh was badly bruised, but it was the left leg that had broken.

Sally leaned back, her eyes closed, breathing deeply after the ordeal of removing the armor. She drew a deep breath and opened her eyes, looking up at the cliff face. She still seemed dazed and didn't seem to notice how cold the cave was, even though she was dressed now only in her camisole.

Hawk removed the thermal blanket from his pack and lay it open on the ground beside her. "I'm going to lift you onto the blanket.", he warned her, and she nodded. He lifted her carefully just enough to move her onto the blanket. She held herself upright on the blanket while he arranged her pack behind her and then wrapped the blanket over her to keep her warm. "Thanks, partner.", she murmured, leaning back.

"Can you get back out?", she asked calmly, eyeing the dangling rope. Fortunately she had landed in a sandy area with few boulders. If she had landed on the boulders at the foot of the opening she would have broken her back or neck. The skeletons at the base of the opening attested to the fact that other creatures hadn't been so fortunate.

"I'll make it back out", he said grimly. "As soon as I'm sure you're going to be all right. I'll get some help." Sally nodded. Now that the stimpacks had kicked in and she wasn't in pain, she was distracted by a sound that had been niggling at her. "Do you hear that?", she asked. Hawk listened. "Yeah, a kind of rushing sound. It seems to be coming from that opening over there." He pointed toward one of the openings off the cave, leading slightly downward.

"It sounds like water. Do you want me to check it out?", Hawk asked. Sally checked her pip-boy. "Well, my radiation's down, so I could stand some radiated water. I think we're out. Maybe you could take a look, it might help if we're stuck down here for a while. How do you think I should bind this leg?", she asked, considering the offending limb.

Hawk searched around the bones at the bottom of the cliff until he found a couple that would be a proper size. Laying them alongside her broken leg, he made sure her bones were properly aligned and then bound it together with leather strips, forming a sturdy splint. Sally tried to stand, holding onto Hawk, but found she was somewhat dizzy. She sat back down against her pack.

"You can't get me up that cliff face, you know", she said quietly. Hawk looked from the rope dangling down the cliff to the woman sitting, bound leg outstretched, against the boulder. "I know", he said. "I think I can get up by myself, and get some help to get you out."

"No, wait", Sally said, looking around. "Look at this place. It's protected, no one has ever been in here, there would be signs. Have you found any?" He shook his head. "Give me a day or two to see if there's any need to move me out or get a doctor. If I just have a broken leg, it'll heal without having to reveal this place. Why don't you go look for the source of that water?" She drug his pack over close and began rummaging through it.

Hawk hesitated, undecided. She knew a lot more about medicine than he did, but sometimes she wasn't as careful of herself as she should be. He finally sighed and headed toward the opening in the cave wall where moisture dripped from the ceiling, forming a small pool on the floor that dribbled into the darkness.

Hawk scanned the darkness with his flashlight, following the narrow passage until it opened up into a larger cave area. A small stream rushed in front of him, disappearing into an opening in the far wall. It didn't seem to be deep, but the flow was rapid and he couldn't tell how big the opening was it ran into. He checked it with his rad gauge. One plus, the same as the river. They were very close to the river and he suspected it came from there. He took out an empty beer bottle and filled it.

When he returned he found Sally had removed some dried foods from her pack and arranged them beside her with a bottle of water and 2 bottles of Nuka Cola. She rarely drank cola. She smiled at him and waved at the food. "Come on, let's have a bite, you've gotta be starving."

He sat down beside her and ripped into a dried steak, washing it down with the Cola. "I found a nice stream in the next cave, the water seems pretty clean, no debris in it. It must be filtered by the rock. I think its source is the river, we're not very far from it." She nodded, swallowing her steak. "That makes sense. So there's water here, that's a plus. If we can make an easier way to get in and out we might be able to use this as a southern base."

"I can bring back a rope ladder. It would do until we can figure out something more permanent. If we're gonna make it a base we don't want anything Deathclaws can use to get in. There's quite a few of them around here."

"Yeah,", she said slowly. "There are. You going to be all right going out there alone?" He smiled to himself. She always worried about him. She seemed to forget he was a big strong super mutant. The Deathclaws had taken them by surprise or they wouldn't be in this mess. Now he knew they were there.

"Is there anything else I can do for you before I go?", he asked. "It's going to take a few days to get whatever we need and get back here. I think the nearest trading post is Rivet City and it's at least 2 days away." She shook her head. "Here's a list of meds I might need. You can bring whatever food or supplies you think we'll need. I could be here for weeks. I don't want anyone out there to know I'm laid up, and we're pretty far from Megaton."

"Are you sure you're going to be all right alone here?", he asked hesitantly. "Hawk,", she replied gently. "There isn't anything you can do for me. You know that. By the time you get back, I'll either be dead or I'll be better. Either way there wouldn't be any need for you to be here. I was alone before you came, I know how to be alone. Maybe you should get some sleep before you go, though, it seems to be getting pretty dark out.", she finished, looking up at the darkening cave opening.

"The sooner I go, the sooner I'll be back. I'll just fill the rest of these empty bottles with water for you, then I'll go. Besides, we mutants see great in the dark, it'll be easier for me to avoid conflicts."

By the time Hawk had filled the bottles and returned Sally seemed to be dozing. He covered her with the edge of the blanket and placed the water within reach. She peeked open an eye and smiled at him. "Safe travels, partner.", she murmured, closing her eyes again. He took a book from his pack and put it with the water. It would get pretty boring down here. "Be well, friend.", he said softly and went over to study the cliff face. He would find a way out.

Hawk leaned over the edge of the cliff and peered down into the darkness. "Sally", he called. "Are you there?" Stupid question, where else would she be, he thought, but was relieved when she called back. "Hawk, hey, you made it back." He just grunted and tossed the edge of the rope ladder over the cliff, securing it at the top. He shifted the heavy pack on his shoulders and swung over the edge, scurrying down the swaying ladder. He turned at the bottom and was surprised to see Sally standing there, grinning at him. He had been gone for only five days.

"Sally,"he said. "You're leg.." "I know.", she interrupted excitedly. "Look, it's all healed. I made a discovery! I knew my rad levels were high when I fell, so I thought I'd better take a rad-away before I drank too much radiated water, but when I checked my gauge, the levels were down, so I drank some of the water. I started feeling better. But later my leg started aching, I guess the stimpack wore off, so I checked the gauge to see how much more water I could take in, I was still thirsty, and the levels were going down! So I drank more water and felt better. So I drank some more. The higher I got my levels, the better the leg felt, until I was nearly in the danger level. Once I got that high I didn't feel so good. But if I keep my levels just near enough without going over, I seem to heal faster! I've been thinking about it all this time, and you know what I think?" He just stared at her. "I think whatever Moira did to me, whatever 'little bitty' changes that were made to my DNA, it lets me use radiation to heal! Like a ghoul does."

Hawk looked startled. "Sally, you're not changing into a ghoul, are you?" "Oh, no, at least I don't think so, I don't seem to have any of the signs. I think it's just the healing." She was grinning wildly. "See!", she said, twirling around on her left leg. "Not a sign of injury. And my bruises are gone to. They should have taken weeks to go away! It explains why I don't seem to get as much radiation as I thought I should either, I must've been using it all this time and didn't even realize it."

Hawk nodded, pleased that she seemed fully recovered. But he couldn't help being a little worried. He knew first-hand what fiddling with someone's DNA could do.

"You got anything good to eat in that pack?", Sally asked. "I ate everything I had. I finished it this morning." Hawk slipped the pack to the ground and dug into it. "Here.", he said. "I got some fresh Mirelurk cakes, at least they were fresh when I left the river." Sally laughed. "I found some wood and leaves that drifted in here, so we can have a fire. We'll heat 'em up and have a feast."

Hawk told her about his trip to Rivet City and back while they ate. The traders were curious about his coming in alone, but he refused to answer their questions. The Elder had sent out a message that he wanted to see her. She didn't bother to respond to this, they both knew she would go to see him when she felt like it.

Sally told him about exploring the cave she was in. It was fairly large about 50 feet roughly in diameter. There were three openings leading out of the cave, besides the mouth she had fallen in, but she hadn't gone into any of them except the one with the stream, which Hawk had already explored. Another opening led out of that cave, but she hadn't gone into it either. She had just started using her leg that morning and hadn't wanted to overdo it.

After eating Sally wanted to explore the passageways. "You don't want to leave?", Hawk asked. "Not yet. How much supplies did you bring?". "Enough to last about a week. I'm mostly carrying food and meds. I only brought enough ammo to see me to here, since you were carrying a pretty large supply." "Good. I want to see what this place has to offer us.", Sally said.

After cleaning up the area they each took a weapon and debated which passageway to explore first. Sally had put on her armor, now she slipped her helmet into place. You never knew what to expect. They decided to check out the one with the river first.

They reached the small cave with the stream running through and searched it thoroughly with the help of her pip-boy light and Hawk's flashlight. A smaller passage ran off to the right but it was too narrow to allow them passage. They couldn't tell how far it ran. The stream itself seemed to be about 4 feet wide and only a couple of feet deep. It ran into a narrow, long crack in the wall, much too small for any object to pass through that was bigger than a person's hand.

After deciding there was no danger of being sucked underground, Sally stripped off and stepped into the water. She bathed quickly and was happy to re-don her clothing. The water was very cold. Hawk grunted with displeasure but followed suit. Keeping down one's body odor made it more difficult for predators to trace them.

It hadn't taken long to check out the river and bathe, but by the time they reached the entrance cave Sally decided it was too late to check out another passageway. Hawk had travelled hard and was tired, and she could see at the cave entrance it was now night. They decided to get some sleep and check it in the morning.

Sally woke to the sound of rain pattering the entrance. It was dim in the cave. Hawk was still asleep, he had been pretty worn out by his long, intense trip. She looked at him fondly for a moment, then went about the business of making a fire and fixing some breakfast. The smell of cooking food roused the big mutant. "It's raining.", he noted, eyeing the cave entrance. She nodded, not voicing the 'very observant' in a sarcastic voice that was in her head. It felt like a lazy day. Sally didn't do lazy. "Let's check another passageway.", was all she responded. He grunted in reply.

They chose the one almost directly opposite the cave mouth. The passageway proved to be wide and tall enough to allow them to pass upright, even Hawk. It was remarkably smooth and wide enough to get a cart through. The path led always downward at a gentle angle. After walking about 15 minutes they spotted light up ahead. They approached the entrance carefully; you never knew what was on the other side. Creeping out of the cave mouth, they discovered they were on the edge of what appeared to be a cauldron. The mountains encircled the lifeless expanse. They could see the other side, just at the edge of the horizon. It was a good 2 hours walk, Sally judged.

Sally stepped out into the desert. The scream from her pip-boy alerted her instantly and she immediately stepped back. "Whoa.", she said, holding up her arm so Hawk could see the reading. "No wonder there's nothing out there. Even with a radiation suit on, I couldn't make it to the other side. The only place I've seen with a higher rad reading than this was at vault 87."

Hawk nodded. He held his gauge out to the side. "It doesn't seem quite as high on the perimeter. I think we could go a ways if we stay along the edge and keep a watch on the readings. I can do it, but you need your rad suit. You're not as resistant as I am."

"Yeah, I have one in my pack. Let's go back and get some lunch, then we can check out some of the perimeter. We'd better take enough rad-away to drop our rads to zero, too, so we can withstand more exposure. I've got rad-x too, we can take that as well. I'm sure I'll get my rads up high enough in no time out there", she grinned.

Hawk didn't bother to argue that it was a waste of time. Sally never left any place unchecked that she could possibly get to.

Sally readjusted her pack over the rad suit and stepped out into the desert expanse. They decided to go to the left, and hugged along the perimeter as closely as they could. The rough tumble of boulders with cracks and crevices filled with sand and dust made for treacherous footing. Hawk estimated Sally could remain in the highly radioactive area for less than 2 hours, so they decided they would explore the area for no more than an hour before turning back. It appeared to be completely lifeless and uninteresting.

It was Sally, hurrying into the lead, that spotted the crack in the wall's face. It wasn't more than 2 person's breadth and had been hidden from line of view by a wall of tumbled debris. Rounding the debris they easily spotted it. There didn't appear to be any life at all in this area, but they never took anything for granted. They pulled out their weapons and approached the cave mouth warily.

Hawk went in first, weapon ready, scanning the cave with his flashlight. It was more of a tunnel than a cave. The radiation level dropped quickly as they moved further into the cave, until it read normal. Hawk's keen ears picked up the sound first. A muted roaring sound. He puzzled over it momentarily until he realized it must be the sound of water, rushing within just inches of the tunnel's walls. That would account for the moisture formed along the left wall and dripping from the ceiling, forming a layer along the edge of the tunnel, pooling in places and making the floor slippery to negotiate.

"There's no rads here", Sally said, consulting her Pip-boy. "Just like in the other cave. Well," she looked up and swept her light around, "let's see where this goes, okay?" It wasn't really a question so Hawk didn't bother to answer. He just headed off down the tunnel, moving carefully over the dangerously slippery floor.

The tunnel seemed to veer to the right for the most part and sloped gently downward. Sally watched her Pip-boy and noted the arrow swinging slowly from the south to the southwest. It became drier as the sound of the rushing water dimmed and became silent. They must have moved away from the underwater stream rushing past on the other side of the wall. There was no sound, no light, but there seemed to be plenty of fresh air. They trudged on and on, the tunnel never seeming to vary much, which Sally found disquieting. She noted the unnatural smoothness of the walls and floor. She gradually became convinced this tunnel had not been formed by natural processes.

The arrow on her Pip-boy veered back until they were once again heading due south. They walked on. Sally estimated they walked around 5 hours when she finally spotted a light up ahead. She knew Hawk had seen it too, so neither felt the need to point it out. They simply walked on toward it until they exited the mouth of the tunnel.

Sally stopped and stared at the vista before her. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but it wasn't this. A vast, arid plain stretched ahead as far as she could see. Sheer walls ran off to left and right, with just the slightest inward curve approaching the horizons. They were standing at the top of a very steep slope, leading down about 30 feet to the empty plain below. The walls towered above them another 1000 feet at her best guess.

There was no sign of life, animal or plant. Down to the right, at the bottom of the wall, she could make out an opening in the sheer wall. The walls themselves looked like they had just been pushed straight up out of the ground by a vast force.

Sally was sure that was exactly what had happened. The smaller cauldron beside this one may have been created by a nuclear bomb, but this had been done by some much more powerful weapon, blasting out this tremendous cauldron, cutting tunnels into the mountains even as they were being formed by the explosion. She had no idea what had done this, but it must have been created late in the war. She had not yet found any references to such a weapon.

"This appears to be a giant cauldron.", Hawk said. "I don't have any rads registering on my gauge. This wasn't made by a nuclear." "I think so too.", Sally replied. "Do you know what could do this?" "No, I didn't hear of any weapon like that. Do you want to go on?" "Do you think we can get back up this slope if we go down? It's almost straight down." "I brought the ladder, that'll reach almost to the bottom. I can attach the rope to that and we should be able to get back out."

Sally looked at Hawk, astonished. "You brought the ladder?", she asked. He replied, "You always say we never know what we're going to run into. I brought everything. Besides I didn't want to chance anything getting down it into the cave. I rigged a rope so we can haul it back up to get out."

Sally laughed. "I'm so lucky you're my partner.", she grinned. Hawk grunted, and said, "We may as well go down if the rads aren't high. We can't go back out for several hours yet, we have to get our rads back down before we can go through that valley of death again."

"The Valley of Death.", Sally repeated. "That's a good name for it, isn't it? Okay, let's go." She held out her Pip-boy over the edge. It registered normal.

Hawk attached the rope to the bottom of the ladder and made the ladder secure at the top. It now reached to the bottom of the slope. He swung over and began his descent, keeping an eye on his rad gauge. Sally waited until he reached the bottom before following. The radiation remained within normal range.

"Well, we can start walking, but I don't know how far it's going to be to the other side. There's hardly any curvature to the walls as far as you can see, so it's got to be huge. We only have enough food and water for maybe 4 days.", Hawk said, looking around. Sally stared at the vast emptiness. "Yeah, I know, and it took us several hours to get here. Let's just check out that cave over there, the one I saw from the ledge. I bet the walls are just as smooth as the other one."

It didn't take long to approach the cave, which was a mere 10 feet up from the flat plain, the slope gradual and easily climbed. It was very hot in the lifeless land, and Sally decided it would be safe to remove her helmet. They made their easy climb and entered the cave. It was indeed much like the other tunnel, high and wide, roughly circular and unnaturally smooth, the floor sloping upward. There were no rads here either.

Satisfied the tunnel was like the other, they decided to do some checking on the plain. It was past noon now so they decided to rest here in the shaded cool of the tunnel and have some lunch. After a cool, leisurely meal they took a nap before packing up and heading into the desert. It was better to go out in the cool of the evening than the heat of the afternoon.

Following the Pip-boy's compass they walked straight south for the entire evening and part of the night, but found nothing but dry, desert sands. They were careful to drink some water every hour and their supplies began to run low. Finally they came to a stop under the brilliant night sky. After refreshing themselves they made the return trip. They strode through the spreading dawn, admiring the colors as the sun broke over the high walls. They wanted to be back at the cave before the heat of the afternoon.

"We're going to need a lot more provisions to explore this place.", Sally said as they rested in the cave mouth. "But I think it's going to be safe enough to start stockpiling supplies in the entrance cave. No one knows about this place." Hawk agreed. "Or if they do, they're not interested in it.", he said. "Maybe", Sally agreed. "But I am. This place has potential. I really don't think anyone has ever found it before, though. If it is a caldera, like we think, then those walls surround it. That would explain why there's no life here. It wouldn't rain because the clouds would drop all their rain before getting over the edge, and if there's no water then nothing can live here. There's nothing we can do about it now, we need to get back to the entrance cave. We're just about out of water."

The partners slept through the afternoon heat in the cool of the cave, then gathered their supplies and made the climb back up to the stream tunnel, taking the ladder with them. They made their way back through the tunnel to cave entrance. After a restful night, and having replenished their water from the stream, they made their way out of the cave into the wasteland, heading for Rivet City. The Tradewind was due in 2 days and Sally figured they could just catch her if they didn't run into too much trouble.

They had little salvage to trade by the time they got to Rivet City as they left most of their supplies behind in the cave. What salvage they did have they had picked up making the trip from the cave. Hawk figured Sally would have gone scavenging if it hadn't been for the Tradewind's schedule. She didn't like to miss a chance to ride it on the river.

They first went to the public restrooms to clean up and change into less constraining clothing. Hawk had purchased a set of custom made loose sea pants and shirt from Jack. He liked to carry it with him to wear when he didn't need armor. Sally preferred a loose clean uniform from her previous vault home. They took their armor down to the merchants and left it to be repaired with the promise it would be ready in the morning. After a hearty meal they headed up the stairs to chat with residents, play cards, and otherwise pass the evening before bunking out in the common room.

The next morning Sally met up with Jack in the merchant's bay. She had gone to have breakfast and pick up their armor. She was finishing her meal when she saw him come in. He intrigued her. Hawk wasn't done anyway so she lingered at the table and simply enjoyed watching him as he went about his business. He was very good. The way he moved made her feel warm inside. Well, he was here so she may as well book their room.

"Hey, Captain Jack, taking passengers?" Jack turned at the familiar voice. Sally was standing behind him, her grey eyes sparkling. "Hey, Sally,", he greeted her. "Always room for you. Are you alone?", he asked, looking around for the missing partner. "Oh, no, Hawk's still over there at breakfast.", she said, waving toward the end of the room where a small dining area was located. "We're headed for the Super Duper Mart. The usual price?", she asked. "As always.", he agreed. "Okay, I'll see you aboard then." She flashed him a quick smile and headed toward the clothing merchant to pay for their armor repairs.

They went on board with full packs but since the ship was so close they didn't bother to don armor. Sally was wearing a vault uniform and Hawk was dressed in the loose sea man's garb. They liked to be comfortable on board the ship.

Sally smiled at the crew and greeted them as friends. "Hey, Sally. Want to have dinner with me tonight?", Bill asked. Sally laughed. "Now, Bill, what would your wife say?", she teased. He grinned. "She'd say I was being nice to a guest. How about it?" "Why don't you join me and Hawk at the café? We could use some company." "Sure, why not?" He grinned as the other men guffawed.

The trip was going well until they pulled in to Fisherman's Wharf. A group of raiders came out of nowhere and attacked. The old lady and her sons were holding their own but the raiders were gaining ground, determined to get to the Tradewind. The crewmen swarmed from the ship, assault rifles firing. Sally grabbed her combat rifle, Hawk his mini gun, and rushed from their cabin. Sally quickly took in the situation and motioned Hawk to hold his ground. The men of the Tradewind had everything under control and might not appreciate her interfering.

Jack was bending over checking a raider when he caught a glimpse of the pair on the ship. He looked up and stared. She stood tall and alert on the deck, the river breeze rustling her red hair about the scar on her expressionless face and smoothing the uniform about her tight figure. The shotgun she held in her hands with complete authority looked like it belonged there and so did the big mutant standing behind her. This must be the way her enemies saw them, he thought with awe. Strong and dangerous and totally in command. Then she shouldered her shotgun, gave him a short wave, and was gone.

Sally greatly enjoyed the voyage. The altercation with the raiders was nothing to her and quickly became just an incident. The men were happy to regale her with their part as each tried to outdo the other to impress her with their strength and prowess. Sally thought them all fine men and told them so to their delight. Sally shared some of her adventures. They were amused by her version of the encounter with Dukov and his girls.

Bill did get his dinner with Sally. Hawk begged off as he had a card game going with Mike and Dawson. The restful break came to an end when they left the Tradewind at the Super Duper Mart post. After a quick stop at Megaton to check on their home, visit with friends, and restock, they took off into the wasteland. The Elder had asked them to check on some trouble in the far north east at a town called Canterbury Commons.

Chapter 19

The vibration on Sally's arm caught her attention. Lowering her rifle she opened the Pip-boy to check the alert. It was a distress beacon from Vault 101. That vault had remained firmly closed since her escape several years ago. Slipping her rifle into its scabbard she abandoned her vantage point and slipped off to a safer area, motioning to Hawk to follow.

"What is it?", he asked, watching her activate the beacon. A lost voice issued from the device on her arm. Her old friend Amata was issuing a call for her help. She was asking Sally to return to the vault. They were in trouble. Her father, the Overseer, had gone mad with power in his desperation to keep the vault closed. Amata wanted Sally to stop looking for her father and return to the vault to help stop the Overseer. "If you're still out there, and you remember me, then the password to get in is my name." The message was on a continuous loop. Sally turned it off as it began to repeat and noted her location on the map. They were only a few miles from the junkyard.

After checking her pack and weapons she adjusted the weight and headed off. "Shouldn't we go home first and prepare?", Hawk asked. "No. If the vault's in trouble I need to get there. The Overseer could be planning another purge. It would end the vault for sure." Hawk didn't argue. If she was right there was no time to waste. They headed back toward the vault at a good pace.

The big gear like door hissed and groaned, steam issuing from it as it pulled back and aside. Sally watched it with trepidation. They were bristling with arms and armaments by this vaults standards. She hoped they didn't take that as offense. They strode in to an empty room then moved up into the security hall. Suddenly they were confronted by a security officer. "Stop right there. You shouldn't be here. How did you get in?", he demanded. Then he did a double take. "Oh, it's you Sally. I hardly recognized you. Oh my God, what's that with you? Is that a super mutant?"

"Hey, Officer Gomez. I was called here by Amata. This is my partner, Hawk, and yes he's a super mutant. Comes in handy sometimes.", Sally said. The officer stared nervously at Hawk for a moment. "I wouldn't tell people Amata sent out a message for you. It could get her in trouble. But if you're here to see her, come on, I'll show you where she's at. That explains how you opened the vault door, anyway. If anyone could it would be you."

They followed Officer Gomez up stairs, down hallways and finally to the clinic. Sally remembered the way. She thanked the officer who took off in a hurry so he wouldn't be seen with the rebels. He also wanted to spread the word that Sally had returned and had a tame super mutant with her! Sally and Hawk went in to the clinic. After assuring the residents Hawk was her partner and no threat to them she got Amata aside to talk to her.

"Some of us want to open the vault, Sally.", Amata said. "The vault's dying. If we stay locked up we aren't going to last much longer. There's not many of us left. After you and your Dad left things got really bad. The officer's have already killed some of us and I'm afraid they have more plans. You've got to help us! Please, Sally, maybe you can talk to my Dad, get him to see reason."

Sally considered. "I don't remember him being especially reasonable. How many people want the vault opened?" "Mostly it's the younger ones. I know he's not easy but won't you try? He won't listen to me." "I'll see what I can do, but Amata, I have to evaluate the situation first. ", Sally said. "That's fair. Just get back with me as soon as you can, okay?", Amata asked.

The vault seemed very empty to Sally as she moved about the halls and rooms, talking to residents. Amata was right. There were so few of them left, there was no way they were going to survive much longer. She made her way up to the Overseers office.

The Overseer turned as she came in. "So,", he said. "You've come crawling back have you? And brought a beast with you? The outside's too rough for you is it? Do you really think I'm going to let you back in? Especially after what your Dad did to us. He didn't know the meaning of dedication, he just thought of himself. He caused all this. His leaving put these ideas in these people's heads that they could make it on the outside."

"I'm sorry.", Sally said quietly. "Dad would have been very upset to hear that if he were still alive." "So he didn't make it out there, then? I would have thought he would if anyone could.", the Overseer responded. Sally smiled sadly. "He did. He chose to sacrifice himself for the welfare of the wasteland. I just hope it will be worth it. But that's not why I've come back, Overseer. I came back to help. Can't you see that the vault is dying? You don't have enough people left here to keep the vault alive for even another hundred years. If you don't open this vault, and exchange with the outside, the vault's mission will have failed. You will have failed to save your people."

The Overseer looked so old. "I'm tired, Sally. I'm afraid you might be right. This is the last bastion of pure humanity left, and I can't save it. If I try to keep them pure, we won't last another generation. But I can't open it up to the wasteland, allow pollution in. I'm not the person to lead the people into a new era. Tell Amata I'm done. I'm stepping down as Overseer. It will fall on her now to decide what's best. She'll be the new Overseer." He turned his back on Sally and left the room, a defeated old man.

Sally left the room also and started down the hall when she saw an officer escorting a prisoner into the cell hall. She waited for him to leave then slipped into the security wing. A quick search netted her the key to the cells. It was what she found on the computer that chilled her. One of the officers was planning a midnight raid on the rebels to kill them, without the Overseers knowledge. She shut down the computer and opened the cell doors. Her old teacher turned to look at her.

"Sally.", he said. "You came back. Thank god you're here. Do you know what these guys are planning?" "Yeah, I do. I hacked the computer. Now come on, I have news for Amata. You can pass the word, she's your new Overseer. I have to let her know what's going on here, too." "Yes, I'll do that. Thanks, Sally. I knew you were going to do okay out there."

As they made their way through the vault to meet with Amata Sally couldn't help but notice how low on supplies the vault was. It had little to offer besides its well educated residents and a safe and clean haven. Amata was going to have a difficult job ahead of her.

Amata was happy that Sally had managed to get her father to agree without any violence. "There is an issue, though, and I don't think you're going to like it.", Amata said. "I'm going to have to keep the vault closed for awhile until I can organize the residents and make an orderly transition. But that means you aren't going to be able to come back in once you leave. I think you should leave, there are too many people here who blame you and your Dad for the problems in the first place."

Sally agreed. "You're right, of course. I didn't have any intention of staying, I have a life out there now. When you come out look me up. I have a house in Megaton, but I get around a lot, and spend a lot of time on the Tradewind. It's a trader's sailboat." "You have a house?", Amata asked, studying her friend's face. "How did you get that scar? It looks pretty painful. Tell me all about it. What's a sailboat like?" Hawk pulled out a book and sat down to read. This was going to take awhile.

The vault door rolled shut behind them with a loud hiss and clang as it sealed. Sally didn't look back at it as she walked down the short tunnel and out the wooden door. She took a deep breath of the wasteland air. It seemed so much fresher than the recycled vault air. The sun was warming the landscape, spread out below them. "Let's go home,", she said. Megaton was only an hour away over the mountain. She still had two days before the Tradewind would be at the Super Duper Mart.

A flash of green light and a zzztt sound caused her to whip to the right. A group of Brotherhood outcasts was being attacked by a Deathclaw! With a swift glance at each other the partners whipped out their weapons and ran toward the battle. There was always work to do in the wasteland.

Jack and the crew had picked up a lot of gossip about the partners in the bars and posts on the Potomac. They had quite a reputation. He understood the scavenging, taking contracts, even the killing when necessary. He wasn't sure how he felt about the mutilated bodies left in their wake. Human, ghouls, mutants, it didn't seem to matter. Some people said they tortured them. All that was known for sure was they were cut open, sometimes sewn back up, but always left dead.

He felt it hard to credit this pretty, smiling woman with such deeds. Still, she ran the wasteland with a super mutant and got in trouble more in a month than most people did in a lifetime. A man would be crazy to get mixed up with this wild wasteland scavenger. So why did he feel all warm and excited when she came in? Why did he think about her all the time?

The Super Duper Mart trading post was becoming a major stop on the trade routes and Jack had to wait to talk to the proprietor. He watched Sally as she came in the building. She headed toward him as soon as she spotted him. Of course she would guess he was here with the ship outside.

"Hey Captain Jack. I'm glad to see you made it back. Will you be heading back down river soon?", Sally asked. Jack was careful to keep his voice neutral and his manner professional. "Hey Sally. Tomorrow morning we'll head back. You looking for a ride to the Citadel?" "Well, I'll probably stop in there while you're there, but we're headed for Rivet City. I want to see my mother.", Sally said. Jack was surprised.

"I didn't know you had family here. Is she living there?", he asked. She shook her head. "No, she's working on a project near there. The Brotherhood's guarding them. I haven't seen her for several weeks now, so I thought I'd drop in and see how she is. My Dad married his assistant so I guess she's really my step mother, but since Dad died she's all the family I have left. She's okay, we get along all right. Is the room on the Tradewind open?", she asked, indicating that personal chit chat was done. " I think we'd like to stay there tonight so we don't have to get up early. It's been a pretty long job and I'd like to get some extra sleep."

Jack nodded. That was the most he had learned about her since they had met. They negotiated a fair price for the room and meals, with the understanding Jack would be making stops at other posts, including the Citadel, before making it to Rivet City. Sally paid him, then nodded farewells, before turning to Larry to begin her trading.

Hawk smiled to himself. He didn't believe Sally's desire to see Madison was the reason she chose to sail the Tradewind for the three days and nights it would take to reach Rivet City. He was pleased that they were going to get some well earned rest and he was going to get a chance to earn some caps. He was a better card player than the crew.

The trip on the Tradewind was without incident. Sally left at each port to trade for items she was going to need in the cave they had found. She enjoyed exchanging stories and tall tales with the crew members and they enjoyed having the strange duo on board. They were intrigued by Hawk's command of cards and continued to challenge him to games. He didn't always win though he usually left the ship ahead in caps. By the time they finally disembarked at Rivet City the partners were rested and ready to head for the mountains.

They approached Cave Entrance cautiously in the evening dusk, alert for signs of the Deathclaws that had a breeding cave nearby. After waiting for a juvenile female to pass they managed to slip into the cave using the rope ladder Hawk had left in place. It was a little awkward with the full packs, but they wouldn't be full when they left.

Hawk set the small campstove in an open area and made sure the energy cells were fully charged. Sally was arranging the fresh foods she had brought from her trades with Jack and Rivet City. They would only last a few days but they weren't planning on staying here long. She set out the dried and canned foods that would remain behind.

While Hawk headed into the stream cave to set up a lighting system she worked on creating comfortable bed areas. They would get more comfortable as more supplies were brought in. Right now the best she could do was hollow out some shallow areas in a sandy place and make sure all hard objects were removed before laying down blankets.

The lighting system was installed in less than three hours throughout the entrance cave, the stream cave, and the tunnel leading to the radiated cauldron. The solar energy sources for entrance cave's power were carefully placed inside the radiated cauldron to take full advantage of the sun's rays.

They now had power, light, heat and water. Sally was pleased with their efforts. Tomorrow Hawk would work on crafting a toilet area that would utilize the stream to wash waste products from the cave without contaminating the stream. It would be harder without the big cutter but she had brought a small laser cutter that should do the job. The cutter too would be left here, along with Sally's radiation suit and one specially crafted for Hawk, and extra meds and weapons. This would become a place of refuge.

On the third day they rose early to leave before dawn. It was safer as most of the Deathclaws would be in the cave until after daylight. They headed on south west into the unexplored areas of the mountains.

Chapter 20

The partners had been taking the Tradewind every month for six months. Sometimes the trip was short, only from one port to the next, if she had a job in the Wasteland. Usually she would catch the ship at Rivet City and ride the entire circuit, disembarking when they came in to a port to conduct her own business while Jack went about his trades. They never interfered in each other's business. Once they completed their initial trading with each other at the beginning of each trip their further exchanges were always brief and polite. Jack was careful to maintain his distance from the intriguing red head, though he often exchanged pleasantries with Hawk.

Once she rode the Tradewind all the way to the Island. Hawk hadn't been with her, and Jack found himself worrying about her. He knew the Island to be as violent and dangerous as the wasteland. When the ship returned 3 weeks later she was waiting with full packs.

The trading was intense and Jack found he enjoyed the session very much. Sally was a tough bargainer, but so was Jack. They both found the exchange satisfying. When the ship docked at Rivet City Aaron invited Sally to have a drink with him at The Muddy Rudder and she accepted. Jack wasn't happy about the twinge of jealousy that ran through him as he watched them disembark together.

She had gotten to know the crew quite well. She paid well for her and Hawk's room, which they always kept open for them, so no one questioned too closely her predilection for taking the sailing ship. The crew suspected she had developed an interest in one of them, but as she didn't pay any more attention to one than another, and spoke with the captain only when conducting business, they didn't know where her interest lay. They started a bet on which man would win a night with the girl.

That time she rode it only to the Super Duper Mart where she took her gear and departed. She had told one of the crew she was meeting Hawk as they had a job to do. Jack watched her walk off into the wasteland with a strange feeling of loss. He wouldn't see her again for a month. She didn't even look back as the wasteland swallowed her.

Sally met Hawk at the junkyard, where they had agreed to meet. The Elder had told them about the trouble being caused by a couple of super heroes in the town of Canterbury Commons and asked if they could look into it. They hoped for good dealings in the unexplored territory as well.

They decided to take the road since according to the map it would take them right to the town, even though it was far up in the northeast. It was a nice, clear day so Sally spotted the Enclave camp set up on the road before the scouts saw them. She was inclined to go around as she didn't want to be held up but Hawk had other ideas. He was spoiling for a fight. "Fine. Just hold on a sec, will you? Give me that missile launcher.", she said. "What fun is that?", he growled as he pulled out the launcher.

Sally loaded the launcher and kneeled down, zeroing in on the camp. She got off two quick shots before the soldiers came after them. "Go!", she yelled and Hawk took off, mini-gun blazing. She tossed the launcher and whipped out her combat shotgun. Hawk was engaging one of the soldiers. She took a flamer hit before she could get in enough shots to kill the remaining soldier.

She groaned, looking around at the mess. "Hell, Hawk, what are we going to do with all this stuff? We can't carry it all. Come on, let's gather it up and help strip these soldiers. The Outcasts could use the suits. We can put everything in that crate over there. Maybe we can pick it up later. My suit's not gonna take too many more hits like that. Can we please TRY to not pick fights? At least until we're done at the Commons." "Sure.", Hawk agreed calmly, retrieving the missile launcher and slinging it across his back.

The day waned as they moved closer to the Commons. Other than a couple of radscorpions they didn't encounter any other trouble. Sally had managed to observe an Enclave camp through her sniper's scope far enough away to go around so that Hawk didn't go after them.

It was getting close to dark when they saw the buildings up ahead. In her haste to get there Sally got careless. She didn't know the Mercs were there until she took the first hit from an assault rifle. With a roar Hawk plunged to her defense, even as she flung herself behind a boulder, simultaneously jerking up her combat shotgun and zeroing in on the gunfire. From the cover of the boulder she fired at the Merc who had broken cover to get at her. She jerked back as a volley of bullets slammed into the ground beside her, then leaped out and fired rapidly. She couldn't let Hawk get killed.

There wasn't much danger of that. The Merc's assault rifles weren't much defense against Hawk's mini-gun. "I'm sorry, Hawk. I wasn't paying attention, I didn't notice them." "Yeah, we're both tired. We've been travelling all day. Let's just get these cleaned up and go on up. They've gotta have some place to grab some dinner and get a place to sleep.", Hawk said.

The first person they came across was 'Uncle' Joe who told them where to get some dinner. He then introduced them to the town officer, who agreed to let them spend the night at his home. After dinner they interviewed several town residents and learned about the crazy ant lady, the Antagonizer, who controlled a nest of ants, and her nemesis The Machinist who created and controlled robots. The problem was they carried out their vendetta in town, causing damage to the town and placing the residents at risk.

Uncle Joe offered her 200 caps to stop them, preferably without causing any further problems or killing them. It turned out the Machinist was a former friend of his. Sally bargained him into agreeing to pay 400 caps. After a good night's sleep she would begin her job.

They hit the bunks early. "You take the bottom. You're too heavy for the top.", Sally said reasonably. Hawk merely grunted, tossing the mattress onto the floor. "Hey, Sally, why did you charge them so much? I know you didn't take anything from the residents at Big Town." "Well, it's like this. Big Town couldn't afford to give us anything, they were barley staying alive there. These people are well fed and prosperous. If I always give our services away we'll soon get a reputation and we won't be worth anything. They can afford it, so I charge what we're worth. It's just good business." Hawk thought about this before falling asleep.

The next morning Sally headed north of town to find the lair of the Antagonizer. She had been warned about the queen's guards, so she decided stealth might be the best option. It took a good hour to locate the lair by searching the paths leading out of town. At the wooden door she asked Hawk to wait. "Please, Hawk, I don't want to kill her if I can help it. If we go in with guns blazing I probably won't have that choice. I'm going to use stealth boys to sneak in and try to talk to her." 'What if it doesn't work?", he growled. "Then I'll do what I have to. Don't you think I can handle this?", she asked. He had little doubt about her abilities so he agreed to wait.

Sally opened the door with her combat shotgun ready. She would have to go through the tunnels to get to the queen. She had dealt with ants before so she was pretty sure the guards would only be in or near the queen's chamber. Since she only had four stealth boys she didn't want to use them on the regular worker or soldier ants.

The chitter chitter of ants warned her that some were near, but none approached her. She found out why when she rounded a corner and saw that a door blocked the way. The sounds were coming from the other side. After considering the situation for a bit, she took out several mines. She placed one directly in front of the door, then went back down the hall and up the stairs, placing a few more as she went. Going back to the door she hit the panel to open it, turned and fled up the hall and up the stairs to the accompaniment of the mines going off behind her. At the top she turned, combat shotgun ready. From this vantage point she could take them down as they tried to come up after her, but only one tough soldier made it this far, and one shot took care of it as it was already injured.

The tunnels appeared to be part of some kind of ancient maintenance structure but most of it was collapsed in and blocked off. After going through what seemed to be a functioning generator room she came into more tunnels. Here a part of the wall had collapsed showing dirt and rock tunnels shored up with wooden structures going into the mountain. This was surely the way to the queen's lair. Sally crept carefully forward, ready to use a stealth boy if she spied a guardian ant.

The way through the tunnels was convoluted. At one place it split and she arbitrarily decided to go left. Further on the tunnels seemed to merge so it probably hadn't mattered which way she went. She was just surprised at how few ants there were. Perhaps the war with the Machinist had taken a heavy toll. Suddenly the tunnel opened up into a cavern. Sally could see the woman sitting on a throne across the cavern. She was wearing form fitting armor and a helmet fashioned like an ant's head with great solid eyes and antennae.

No guardians appeared to be in sight as Sally moved slowly forward, her shotgun in a neutral position to show she wasn't there looking for a kill. The woman watched her approach. "Why do you dare to invade my lair?", she asked as Sally came up to her. "I just want to talk to you.", Sally replied very calmly. "Why are you attacking the town?"

It took some convincing to get the woman to finally realize what she was doing wasn't in any way beneficial to herself or the ants she loved. Getting them killed wasn't going to help save them. In the end, the woman handed over her suit and helmet to Sally with the promise she was going to go away and not return, whereupon she simply walked off, leaving Sally to find her own way. Since that was what she did, Sally promptly set about seeing if anything in the quarters was worth taking. There wasn't much, the woman had lived very frugally, but she did find a ladder leading to the surface. At least she wouldn't have to go back through the warren.

Hawk was still watching the entrance when Sally came up behind him. He heard her coming and turned to greet her. "Where did you come from?", he asked. She laughed. On the way back to town she told him about the woman and finding the ladder. "It's kinda late. Let's get some dinner and some sleep. Tomorrow we'll deal with the other kook.", she said.

Uncle Joe knew where the Machinist was working and pointed out his shop on the top of a mountain out of town. It was some shop. It was comprised of an old robot manufacturing facility and was three floors of dangerous Protectrons and sentries. Sally and Hawk stood in the lobby, which seemed safe enough, and considered which way to go. There was a kitchen and office area off to the left, and down the hall there was a functioning elevator. Going straight led to the manufacturing areas.

"His workshop is going to be on the top floor, isn't it?", Sally asked drily. Hawk shrugged. "More than likely." "Well, if it was easy, they wouldn't need us, would they?", she sighed. "Okay, I'm going to explore the floors and see if I can find a way to get to him without destroying his robots. If they can be reprogrammed they can help the town. How about you check out the kitchen and offices? Do try not to destroy too many robots." "If you insist", he said and headed off to the left.

Sally approached the floor carefully. She spotted the sentry hanging from the ceiling. Its constant beeping made it fairly easy to locate. She also noticed a Protectron patrolling the floor. There was a door not too far off. She would check that out first. Pulling the stealth boys from her pack she fixed one in place and activated it, dropping the others in a pocket where they could be accessed quickly.

The stealth boy utilized pre-war technology to render her nearly invisible as long as she moved slowly and the enemy didn't come to close. Once they focused on her she would no longer be hidden. She crouched and moved slowly into the room, keeping her weapon at the ready. It took a while to creep across the floor into the room but she quickly found it was worth it. The room contained a computer and she was able to break into it and shut down the defenses on the floor.

That done she headed up the stairs to the next floor to repeat the process. Unfortunately it wasn't quite as successful. She moved a little too quickly and a Protectron caught sight of her. Gunfire would have drawn too much attention so Sally quickly hurled a pulse grenade before it could get too close to her, then another. The electromagnetic pulses fried the robots circuits. That was too bad, that was one robot that wouldn't function again. She quickly entered the control room and shut down the defenses for that floor. One more floor to go.

The stealth boy was still holding out but it wouldn't last much longer. She fixed another and activated it. Sneaking out of the doorway she crept, crouching, toward the control room past a number of machines. A Protectron was patrolling across the room and was about to turn the corner, heading right toward her. Sally slipped between the machines and went completely still. Hopefully it wouldn't pass near enough to catch sight of her. She waited with the combat rifle at the ready. If it did see her, it would be too close to use a pulse grenade.

The Protectron patrolled by without checking the machines. As soon as it was past Sally slipped out and crept on toward the room. It didn't notice her. She made it to the room and shut down the defenses on the last floor. She could now move freely.

Following the catwalk she came to the Machinists work room. He wasn't there. Sally checked the room and the rest of the floor. She went back down to the ground floor and found Hawk in the kitchen. "I didn't find him but I noticed that there wasn't any elevator on any of the floors. I think it might go to a different area so I'm going to try it next."

The elevator opened onto an enclosed walkway. It was totally empty, but Sally could hear sounds echoing in the end of the tunnel like enclosure. She moved cautiously toward the sound. She was almost in the room when the costumed man came out and confronted her. "I heard you got rid of the Anatagonizer. Good, good. Just give me her suit so I can make sure no ever uses it again." "Hold on.", Sally said. "I'll let you have the suit but first we need to talk about what you're doing. You're scaring people with your antics. And what about little Derek? Do you know he comes out to watch every battle? What if he gets hurt?"

"What?", the Machininst said. "No, I don't want anyone to get hurt. I want to protect them. Here, you take my suit too. I'll just leave, I can't show my face in this town. I didn't mean to scare anyone." "Now wait a minute. You don't have to do that. The people aren't mad at you, they just want you to stop causing trouble in town. They want you back. You know, you're so good with these robots, you could program them to help protect the town under your control without causing so much damage. I've been thinking too and I have a deal for you. It's something I've been thinking about for a long time and I think you might be able to do it."

He was intrigued. "What is it you think I can do?', he asked. "I've seen a lot of old motorcycles all over the wasteland. Some of them look like they're in pretty decent shape but as far as I know no one has made one work. If you can get one to work for me I'll pay you 2000 caps for it." The man's eyes lit up with the challenge. "You got a deal. I think there's one just out of town and I can get the traders to bring me parts from all over. Give me a year and check back." "Good. I'll be around. Take care of the Town.", Sally said. "Yeah, I will, good travels.", he said absently, heading for his workshop.

Sally slung the suit over her shoulder and tucked the helmet under her arm, then headed back down the tunnel to the elevator. It was time to get Hawk and go claim their reward.

Uncle Joe was so happy with the way Sally had handled the affair that he threw in a bonus of 200 caps. The pair was now richer by 600 caps and two super hero costumes. After another good meal and a good night's sleep they left for home.

"What do you think, Hawk? How about we pick up some of those Enclave Tesla suits and some plasma rifles and take them to the Outcasts? We'll just stop off at Home and leave these outfits until I decide what to do with them." "Hah! You know you're going to keep the helmets for trophies.", Hawk grinned. "Hmm, yeah, they can go on top of the gun cabinets. They'll look interesting there, don't you think." Hawk guffawed. He said, "It's still a good idea though. There's the Enclave camp now. Let's see if anyone's raided the lockers."

They made good time and made it home before it was completely dark. They spent the next day going through salvage and choosing items to take to the Outcasts. The early morning sun lit the sky above Megaton and glinted off the bomb as they left to go to the Outcast outpost in the south.

By the time they had finished their trades and stopped at the library to sell some books there was only one day left before the Tradewind was due at Rivet City. Sally wasn't going to let salvaging keep her from the Tradewind. Picking up what items they could off the raiders, mutants and wildlife they killed on the way in they had a fair amount to trade when they arrived at Rivet City. Hawk handed the beggar a bottle of pure water on the way in to the ship city.

Chapter 21

Sally and Hawk had caught the Tradewind at Rivet City and were having dinner aboard. They had done quite well recently and could afford the luxury, and besides Carl was a wonderful cook and served the most delicious fresh fruits from the south. They were eating with the crew, Aaron, Mike, Carl, Dawson and Bill. Jack was having his meal at the wheel and was also serving as lookout with Fred while the other men ate. He could hear everything being said, though. It was a gorgeous evening and they were eating on deck.

Sally had changed her armor for a green wasteland dress and slippers she kept in her room at Rivet city, mostly because she liked them. They complemented her golden red hair and hugged her slender tight figure. Even Hawk conceded she looked good. The men eyeing her at dinner obviously agreed. Hawk was sure she noticed their admiring glances, and she casually accepted them.

The men had become accustomed to Hawk's presence though they still didn't know what to make of his relationship with the girl. It made them a little leery of approaching her too closely, as he seemed almost obsessively protective of her.

"So,", Carl asked. "How's scavenging been lately? You look like you're doing pretty well." He smiled at Sally, " You look great tonight, by the way."

Sally smiled at him. "Thanks, Carl. We've been doing pretty good. Dinner's delicious, you really know how to prepare a meal." Carl grinned at the complement. "How do you manage meals in the wasteland? Do you ever eat anything besides cold stuff?" "Oh, no, we don't eat that old stuff unless we have to. We hunt and gather tubers & stuff when we come across them. You just have to know what you can eat and what will kill you. I cook sometimes, but I'm not so good at it. Hawk's better, so we take turns. I usually clean up though. He's not so great at cleaning. He does keep me warm at night, though, don't you Hawk?", she asked, smiling fondly at the mutant. He grunted, amused by the startled looks on the men's faces. Sally caught them too.

"You sleep with him?" Mike was startled into asking. "Well,", he observed hastily, trying to cover his impolite query. "I guess that's safe enough for you since mutants don't, um, have any proclivities, right?" Sally laughed. "Well, yeah, we sleep together out there. It keeps us warm. Do you know how cold the wasteland gets at night in winter? You're right that feral mutants don't have any sex organs, everyone knows that."

Hawk spoke up. "But then, I'm not feral. As for my proclivities, the mutants that survived the change with their intelligence intact also have other body parts intact. My wife's glad of it."

Now the men were staring at Hawk. So was Sally. "Um, Hawk, I thought we weren't supposed to talk about that.", she said. Hawk nodded at the group. "These men are our friends, I trust them." Aaron looked at Hawk curiously. "How many of you are there?", he asked. Hawk shook his head. "I can't tell you that, or where they are. My wife is thinking about coming out, to meet some of my friends. I'm not sure it's a good idea if the wasteland knows any others exist besides myself. We're still discussing it. I know you guys", he looked around at the assembled men, "wouldn't betray us." His look said the subject of the other intelligent mutants was closed.

The men looked curiously from Hawk to Sally. "How long have you been partners?", Carl asked, looking from one to the other. Sally answered. "Hmm, let's see, over 3 years now, isn't it Hawk?" "Yeah.", he agreed. Sally looked at each of the men, laughing softly. "But that's not really what they want to know. Should we tell them, Hawk?", she asked teasingly. "Are we having sex out there alone in the wasteland?"

Hawk grunted. "Just so you know,", he said. "No human female could survive sex with a super mutant, not even one as strong as Sally. No female mutant would have anything to do with a male that couldn't subdue her, so it gets very, um, aggressive. Besides, she's so tiny. Sally is safe with me." His look said Sally was safe with him from other males whose attentions might be unwelcome to her as well.

The men glanced at each other uneasily. They were all very interested in questioning Hawk about his sex life, but after a few curious glances at Sally no one asked. Their next card game would be a little livelier though.

Sally took a sip of her wine and smiled demurely at the men. "So if you're wondering how human males stack up against mutant males I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to tell you since I haven't been with either one. I guess I've been too busy staying alive. Or maybe I just haven't been asked by the right man.", she added, smiling suggestively at the assembled group of males, indicating their attention would not be considered unwelcome.

Jack choked, struggling to swallow the gulp of beer. Did she know what she had just done? Sally had just thrown down a gauntlet amongst a crew of healthy virile men. They were all eyeing her as if she was a piece of prime steak. This was going to be some interesting trip. He glared at her, sitting there so demurely sipping her wine. Yeah, she knew all right. But which one had the remark been meant for?

Aaron hesitated, then asked, " Would you and your partner care to join me for a glass of wine later?" Sally grinned. "I'd like that.", she said. Hawk declined. "He doesn't drink alcohol very much," Sally confided, but didn't find it necessary to tell him why. The big mutant could easily go berserker when alcohol impaired. Intact mutants had learned the hard way not to imbibe. Hawk went to sit on the deck and watch the river for a while.

Sally and Aaron finished off the bottle of wine and decided to take a stroll around the deck. They were enjoying their lively conversation and her laughter was light on the balmy night, eliciting varying responses from the crew. Hawk had gone to their cabin to catch up on some reading. It was a warm night and the stars shone brightly down.

They came to a halt in the shadowed lea of the cabins, and Aaron took her gently in his arms. She raised her face to him, her eyes glowing in the shadows. He bent toward her and kissed her lightly on the forehead. "You're not for me, are you, Sally?", he asked quietly.

"You're a good friend Aaron.", she murmured in return. "But no, not in that way. I'm not sure I'm for anyone. I'm still looking for someone who can make me….feel." Aaron held her lightly against him. "Don't worry, little Sally. There's a reason you keep returning to the Tradewind. You'll find it soon enough." "Maybe. Or maybe I just like the ship.", she laughed softly. Aaron smiled over her head. "Come on, I'll walk you to your door like a polite date.", he teased.

Sally rose to stand by the rail and watch the dawn, a habit Jack had noticed from her many trips. Only occasionally did she miss greeting the morning sun. He wondered, but didn't ask as he struggled to keep his determination to remain aloof from the troublesome scavenger. It seemed to get more difficult with each trip.

The brilliance of the morning sun spread warmth through Sally, raising her spirits as it had ever since that first morning she had sat in Springvale and felt the despair of a dark night fade into the hope of a new day. There had been so many dark nights since then. She felt safe enough aboard the Tradewind to close her eyes and let the light seep through her eyelids, the warmth through her body. Finally, with a small sigh, she opened her eyes and turned away.

She looked up toward the till, and her eyes met Jack's golden cat eyes, watching her. For just a moment a thrill ran through her and their glances held, then he turned away and scanned the river. Had she just imagined that feeling of connection, of want?

"Hey, Sally." Mike was standing close to her. She felt a twinge of aggravation at herself. How had she not heard him approach? She simply had to quit thinking about Jack, his disinterest was more than apparent. She smiled brightly at Mike. "Hey, yourself.", she said.

"We'll be docking at Fisherman's Wharf in a few hours. Want to join me for some lunch?", Mike asked. "That would be great. Shall I meet you at the gang plank when we're tied up?" Mike agreed. "See you then.", he said and headed off to take care of some duties before he could disembark. Jack, who could clearly hear everything said below him, simply stared stonily at the water. _Why should I care_, he asked himself fiercely, _who she's having lunch with?_

Sally wasn't taking her pack ashore as she wasn't trading at Fisherman's Wharf. She had stopped wearing armor when aboard the Tradewind, trusting the crew to protect them. Today she was wearing a pre-war dress of soft pink. It had been damaged when she found it but her sewing skills had improved with practice, and the designs she had sewn over the bad areas now made a pleasing pattern. She thought her hair a little long and decided to visit the hairdresser at the Museum next time she was there. He might be a ghoul but he did do a really good job and was very cheap.

She felt Jack's eyes on them as she and Mike left the ship together and stood a little straighter, and laughed a little lighter at a comment Mike made. She had few enough simply pleasant times, she was determined to enjoy herself.

The day's trading had gone well for Jack. The area had built up some over the past months and the new bar that had opened to serve the increasing river traffic had been in need of the fresh foods he brought from the south. After leaving the trading post Jack had opted for lunch with Hawk and the crew aboard the Tradewind, not wanting to run into Sally and Mike at the bar. Tomorrow they would dock at the Citadel, and at the Super Duper Mart post the day after.

The evening was again warm with a pleasant breeze on the river. Jack and Mike had traded some shots with Raiders on shore, but no one was hurt. The raiders were just staking their territory, they hadn't been seriously trying to engage the crew. Now Aaron had taken his place at the helm with Jack taking guard duty so the others could have some down time.

Dinner had gone well. The crew enjoyed Sally and Hawk's presence and there was much swapping of tales and jokes. Carl had allowed Sally to help him clean up so he could have more of his evening free. Hawk had resumed his favored seat on deck with his favorite shotgun across his lap. Mike had joined him with his harmonica and was playing a lively tune for the crew's amusement. The moon was bright, casting a warm glow over the evening.

"Hey, Sally.", Dawson grinned, holding out his hand. "Would you care to dance?" "I'd love to.", she smiled back, leaping up to take his hand. Dawson was taller and less robustly built than the other crew members, but she could feel his strength in his strong muscles and long sinewy form. They skipped about the deck to the lively tune, collapsing in laughter as the song ended. "Hey, Mike.", Dawson called. "How about something a little slower?"

Mike slapped his harmonica against his hand to dislodge the spit, and started a slow ballad. Dawson smiled at Sally and pulled her into a close embrace, moving slowly about the deck. She moved against his body, following his every lead with no difficulty, feeling the very maleness of him, his warmth, his pleasant scent. She leaned into him as they danced and he pulled her even tighter so it seemed they were barely moving.

"How was your lunch with Mike?", he asked, leaning down to speak quietly in her ear. Let the others wonder what they were whispering about he thought smugly. He kept his hands respectfully about her waist, while her arms encircled his neck . "He's a fun person to be with.", she responded equally quietly. Let Captain Jack wonder what they were whispering about, she thought snidely, then derided herself for caring what he thought. They whispered inanities at each other.

The song ended and they hesitated just a shade long, then pulled apart. Dawson smiled. "Would you like to take a walk about the deck?", he asked. She smiled and held out her hand. Taking it they strolled off toward the shadowed areas out of sight of the crew.

Dawson pulled her slender figure up against his long one, bending to meet her upturned lips. She melted against him, returning his kiss, warm and inviting. He suddenly realized she had gone still in his arms, not resisting, just not really participating. "What's wrong?", he asked quietly, loosening his grip. She gently pulled away. "I like you, Dawson.", she said. "But it's just not there. I don't feel it." He nodded.

Jack's crew were good men. They respected Sally, but not every man would. Dawson leaned back against the wall behind him, crossing his arms. "What would you do if a man tried to force the issue?", he asked curiously. Sally lifted a hand to the long scar down her face. "You see this scar? I got this from the first man that tried that. I was so young and green and scared out of my wits."

Dawson pushed himself off the wall and stood up straight. "What happened?", he asked softly. Sally looked up at him steadily. "I killed him. And then I threw up." Dawson stared for a moment, and then laughed, shaking his head. "You're some gal, Sally.", he said. "Come on, let's go see if Mike will play another song for us."

Sally rose early as usual the next morning to greet the sun. She lounged lazily on deck, surreptitiously watching Jack guide the Tradewind up the Potomac. They docked midmorning and Jack left to do his trades at the Citadel. Sally was preparing to disembark when her Pip-boy vibrated with a distress call. She quickly opened it and checked the messages.

When Hawk came in she was gathering their supplies and materials together. Hawk had already stashed his mattress under her bunk. He had finally brought in his own large mattress after their third trip. It took up most of the floor when it was out.

"You need to bring everything, Hawk.", she said. "We've gotta go. I picked up a distress call on my Pip-boy. The Brotherhood Outcasts are in trouble. Unfortunately they're down in the South but we can't wait for the Tradewind to get us there." "What about the Elder? He sent word that he'd like to see you. That's what I was coming to tell you." , Hawk said, pulling out his pack and checking his weapons. Sally was already fully armored, her scabbards bulging with weapons.

"Whatever it is will have to wait. I don't know what's going on between the Brotherhood and the Outcasts right now and we don't have time to find out. It's going to take us at least four hours to get there as it is, even if we don't run into trouble. I hope they can hold out. The Brotherhood will have picked it up too so if that's what he wants we already know. I doubt they're going to send a rescue party. Play time's over. Let's go!", she said urgently, swinging her pack into place.

Jack was over at the post, so Sally stopped Aaron long enough to tell them they were leaving the Tradewind and wouldn't be back this trip. Then they trotted off into the wasted city. She didn't think it necessary to tell him why or where she was going, it really wasn't any of their business, and it wasn't like Jack cared!

Aaron was leaning on the rail watching the shoreline for trouble when Jack approached him, looking around quizzically. "I didn't see Sally over at the post.", he said. "Sally & Hawk are gone.", Aaron said without preamble. "Gone?", Jack queried. "Yeah, said they weren't coming back this trip. They seemed to be in a big hurry, headed off that way." He pointed to a road heading South. He glanced at Jack. His face was tight and closed. "Well, they aren't getting a refund.", he said coldly, walking away. Aaron sighed. Jack wasn't fooling him any, he knew he was worried for the woman.

It took longer than Sally had estimated to reach Bailey's Crossing. They were held up with raiders and mutants, and at one place by a small contingent of Enclave. She tried to slip around them but there wasn't much space between the blasted buildings and they spotted her. It was a difficult battle. While Hawk engaged one of the soldiers two of them were firing almost continuously at Sally. She was trapped behind an old, rusted vehicle, peering around whenever there was a break to return fire. At last they came close enough to a vehicle intact enough to blow up, and Sally aimed her fire at it. The explosion was quite satisfying and sent the soldiers flying. She hurried out of cover to help Hawk but he didn't need her aid. After a quick look around to make sure no further dangers lurked they headed on down the road.

Hawk pushed open the door to Bailey's Crossing metro tunnel while Sally stood ready. Nothing came at them so they went into the tunnels and advance quickly through them. The Outcasts probably kept them clear of vermin. It took about 15 minutes to traverse the tunnel, push open the gate to Bailey's Crossing, and step up into a raging battle.

"Hold it civilian. What are you doing here?", an Outcast soldier demanded, training his rifle on Sally. "We're here to help. We heard your distress call." "How did you pick up our signal? It's on a secure channel. Oh, wait, I see, that computer on your wrist. It picked it up didn't it? If you're here to help let's get going. The second wave of mutants has started their attack."

The partners followed the soldier out into the blasted buildings where super mutants were swarming over the ruins, taking a toll on the Outcasts. They quickly joined the battle. Sally crouched and whipped out her sniper rifle. It was too close range for missiles. It could take several shots but she could reach the mutants on the higher levels. Hawk was concentrating on the lower levels with his mini-gun. Fortunately the mutants seemed to be armed only with hunting rifles, an occasional assault rifle, and unthinking berserker rage.

The Outcasts were punching through the super mutants. The partners moved with them as the Outcasts made their way through the ruins until at last all the mutants had fallen or fled. Sally wasn't so sure any had fled, mutants usually just kept on coming until they won or died. In any case the battle had ceased and the ruins was littered with the dead and dying, scenes all too familiar to them.

Sally bent over a man to try to stop the bleeding. A soldier said, "Come with me. I think our commander will be interested in talking to you. A medic will take care of this man.", he added as Sally started to object. He motioned over another soldier with a medic kit. Sally and Hawk followed him into the bowels of the ruins where he indicated a freight elevator. They stepped on and activated it.

The elevator went down…and down.. and down. Sally counted five stories beneath the ground before it stopped. They were lead down several halls and through rooms of impressive equipment before finally reaching the room where the commander was. "So this is the civilian you want me to meet. Why do you think I want to talk to her?", he asked. "Look what she's wearing on her left wrist, sir.", the soldier answered.

"So, you have a Pip-boy.", the commander said, addressing Sally. "I may have a job for you. You see, we have this storage room that can't be opened except by finishing a program in a simulation pod. We don't know why it's set up like that, but there it is. We can't get in the pod because it requires a specific interface, like the one on your wrist there. "

"You aren't thinking of trying to get my pip-boy, are you?", Sally asked mildly. "No, even if we were willing to cut off your arm to take it, it wouldn't do any good . We know they're programmed to a specific bio signature and if it's removed by force it self-destructs. What I want is for you to go into the pod and complete the program to open the door."

Sally lowered her gaze at him. "Let me guess, it's a very dangerous program and the safety protocols are off." "Pretty close. It's a training program for soldiers in case the Chinese invaded. But yes, the safety protocols don't work, so if you die in the sim, you have massive heart failure in real life. You die."

Sally frowned at the commander. "I've already done one sim that was very similar and I can tell you it's even more dangerous than you think. No, wait..", she said as the commander started to say something. "I'm not saying I won't do it. It's just that there's a very good chance I won't be getting out of that pod alive. There's some things I want to take care of first. I'll come back in a month or so. Oh, and Hawk here will be with me, so be prepared to put him up for as long as I'm in there. I won't go in unless he's watching over me. So what are you offering to make it worth the risk?"

"So you've already been in a sim pod.", he said thoughtfully. "Where would that have been? Never mind, it doesn't matter, I'm sure you're not going to tell me. Your offer seems reasonable.", the commander said. "Just come back when you're ready. We'll have accommodations available for your partner. As for your reward, we assume there must be some powerful tech in there to make it worth locking it up that tight. We'll be willing to share some of it with you."

"If I die, you give me your personal assurance Hawk is permitted to leave and return to the wasteland unharmed, or I won't even consider it.", Sally said grimly. "That's not a problem. We don't have any quarrel with Hawk. We'll even let you continue to work with us if you choose.", the commander said to Hawk. "It's a deal then. Come on Hawk.", Sally said turning on her heel and walking from the commander.

"I don't like this Sally.", Hawk said. "You told me about the sim you entered to save your dad. This sounds like it's going to be even more dangerous and I won't be able to help you." "Yes, your right about that. But this is what I do Hawk. I take chances. This is a challenge. You don't think I can pass it up, do you?", she asked, her eyes glowing with a feral light. "No.", he sighed. "No, I guess not. What do we do now?" "Now I have a date with Crowley. I think I have some keys that belong to him.", she grinned.

Chapter 22

Sally leaned on the deck rail, watching the city float slowly past. She loved the river. This was her favorite spot when she travelled on the Tradewind. She was feeling especially restless tonight, as though an explosion was just waiting inside her. She pushed her hair back and scowled at the water.

Jack came up to lean on the rail beside Sally. "It's a lovely night, isn't it?', he asked conversationally. Sally nodded. She could feel the heat of him, right beside her, the heat he caused in her. But she was afraid. What if she just turned, and grabbed him, and kissed him the way she wanted to? What if he rebuffed her? Worse, what if the heat went cold, as it always had? She risked a glance at his rugged face. He was staring at her, and she knew she had to take the risk…she reached up to touch his face. The next thing she knew he was pulling her to him, and his lips were on hers, and the heat exploded in her like a bomb.

Jack's body blazed with the heat from the woman in his arms. He groaned, pulling her closer, his kiss deepening and hungry. He felt her hands leave his neck, the kiss break off. Her eyes were half closed, her breathing rapid as she ran her hands along his chest, down his waist… "Whoa, Guai Girl,", he gasped, grasping her wrists in his strong hands. "Hold on". "What?" she gazed up at him with wide, glazed eyes. "Don't you want me to touch you?" He leaned forward and whispered in her ear, holding their hands between them, "Very much, but not here. I'm the captain. We don't want to entertain the crew, do we? How about we take this to my cabin?" Sally giggled, glancing toward the door leading to Jack's cabin. He released her hands, one arm going around her. Arms around each other they went through the door.

Hawk raised his head at the sound of the giggle. How interesting. He'd never heard the tough little scavenger giggle before. His head on one side he watched from his usual perch on the deck, aware of the crew nervously watching him to see what he would do. He looked around at the crew. "Anyone for a game of cards?", he asked. "We can use my room. I don't think Sally's going to be coming back tonight and I've got plenty of beer." Carl and Mike looked at each other. It seemed Sally had made her choice all right. "Sure", Carl agreed. "Maybe I can win back some of those caps you took off me last time." Hawk chuckled as he rose, a really strange sound coming from the big mutant. Aaron grinned as he watched them go. He would collect a nice sum when he got off duty. He'd put his caps on Jack.

Jack held the woman close against him, drowsily stroking her length. She was sleeping quietly in his arms. It had been a wild, explosive night for them. The dawn sun sneaked in through the porthole, and he knew he should be up, taking his turn at the till, relieving Aaron who had taken the night shift. He hadn't had much sleep. What had happened to his resolve to stay away from this powder keg, he wondered? Instead he had lit the fuse and burned the night with her.

Sally stirred and opened her eyes to smile sleepily at Jack. Her usually stormy gray eyes roiled softly with contentment, like a soft sea fog. She stretched lazily, moving her body down his length, just to enjoy the feel of him. Jack's arms tightened about her. "Good morning, guai girl,", he said softly. She giggled lightly. "Morning Captain."

She reached up to stroke the scar running over his left eye. "Pirates?", she asked curiously. "Yeah." "And this one too?", she asked, stroking his arm where a deep puckered scar ran down almost from shoulder to elbow. "That too.", he grinned.

"And this?", he asked, running a finger down the long scar on the right side of her face. "Ah,", she said, "That's the first one I got out of the vault." She told him about the men, and how she had killed them. Then it was his turn to describe in graphic and exciting detail how they had been boarded their first time at sea, and he and his men had repelled the invasion though not without injuries. All the crew members sported their share of experience on their bodies.

"What about this one?", he asked huskily, pulling her right leg over his and gently running his hand down the long scar on the outside of her thigh. Her body thrilled at his touch. "Umm," she said breathily, running her hands over his body. "I got that one in the vault when I was about 8 or 9. One of the boys pushed me off a catwalk." Then they got distracted and forgot about trading scar stories.

Aaron merely grinned at Jack when he apologized for being late for his shift. "Don't blame you, Captain,", he said. "I'd have been late too." He winked at Sally and walked off to get some breakfast before getting some sleep. Sally laughed. "I'll go get you something to eat.", she said to Jack. "You need your strength." He watched her walk off, humming lightly to himself, then turned to pay attention to his duties.

Sally was sitting near him while they ate their breakfast and Jack scanned the river. He kept the Tradewind on course, but it was an easy day with a calm river and took little attention. The river was quiet today.

Jack said, "Sally, I hope you understand, but I have to ask. About the bodies." "Bodies?", she asked, confused. She had left a lot of bodies. "I've heard rumors, about the ones you leave behind. The ones that might not have died in battle." He was reluctant to say the word 'torture', but Sally suddenly realized what he was asking. She'd heard the rumors too. She thought about how to explain this.

"You know I came from a vault, right?", she asked. He nodded. "In the vault, you're given a Pip-Boy and some small jobs when you reach 10. At 16, your career is chosen for you after you take a special test called the GOAT. It's a farce, really, your job is assigned by the master. Anyway, the commander wanted to keep me away from anything to do with weapons and had me assigned to become a doctor, so I got to study medicine under my Dad. That's what I did for 3 years till I had to leave the vault to stay alive. The commander was trying to kill me. Anyway, I realized if I wanted to help Hawk or anyone else who needed help out there in the wasteland, I needed to know more. So I started working on some of the enemy left alive after a battle to try to save them. You know, to perfect my operating skills. If no one was left alive I'd just do a quick autopsy on one to assess the damage and what I might have done. I've heard the rumors, but I've never tortured anyone, human or mutant. I always made sure they were completely anesthetized or dead before I did any cutting. I hope you understand."

She was watching him closely, but there was no pleading for understanding in her expression. He accepted this, or he didn't. She wasn't going to apologize for what she did. He smiled wryly. "I never really believed it anyway.", he said quietly.

The days were pleasant with no attacks, no problems. The nights were exciting. It was understood Sally wouldn't be using the room she and Hawk had previously rented. Now only Hawk slept there. When they reached Rivet City Sally reluctantly gathered her gear to leave. "Can't you stay with me?", Jack asked hopefully. "Afraid not, I have to make a living. I'll see you next month, okay?"

"I'll be watching for you.", he said, taking her in his arms for a last kiss, in view of anyone watching from the wasteland. He was firmly staking his claim to the woman. He watched her walk away. This time she looked back before disappearing into the wasteland with Hawk. It might be the last time she would ever see him. The Outcast garrison and the simulation pod were only a few hours away.

"You didn't tell Jack what you were going to do.", Hawk stated. It wasn't a question. Sally glanced at him. "No, if I told him everything I did or was going to do he would worry." "Maybe he has a right to worry.", Hawk grunted. Sally shrugged. They would be at the garrison soon and she didn't want to quarrel with him, or she would have asked him if he told Halnet everything.

The commander was as good as his word. Hawk had sufficient accommodation and stood watch over Sally as she lay in the pod. There was no way of knowing what was going on in there other than watching the fluctuating life signs on the monitors. She couldn't be removed from the pod, no matter how close those signs came to terminating. The removal before the end of the program would surely kill her. For seventeen days Hawk stood guard, sleeping on the bed by the pod, relieving himself on the facilities they had provided where he could still see the pod. He never let it out of his sight. At last the pod hissed, the lights flickered, and the top slowly swung up.

Sally sat up and stretched, looking around her. "Well, I'm back.", she said. "That was amazing. You should try it sometime, commander, if you don't mind dying." She grinned at them and started to crawl out of the pod. Hawk reached in and lifted her out. She tried to stand but her legs gave out. "Hold on, give me a minute.", she said, clinging to the mutant. She slowly straightened and flexed her legs. "Okay, let's try that door.", she said. They walked over with the commander and opened the door.

"Well, was it worth it?", Hawk asked as they left the garrison behind. "Yeah, it was. I took on an army, Hawk. I led men into battle. I made the decisions, made the hard calls. And we won! I know it was just a sim, but it was so real. We got some really cool tech too. But I do still feel a little weak, Hawk, I don't think I want to take on the wasteland just yet. We're not far from Tennpenny's, how about we stop there a night or two?" "Sure.", he agreed, just glad she was alive.

Sally sighed as the emergency beacon on her Pip-boy vibrated with incoming signal. Couldn't she even finish a meal in peace? They had only been at Tennpenny tower for two days. The old man had asked them to have dinner with him. It was a very good dinner. "Sorry, Mr. Tennpenny.", she said, checking the Pip-boy. "Looks like we're going to have to cut dinner short." "Call from the Brotherhood?", he asked mildly. She just smiled. She and the old man might have an understanding but she didn't trust him a bit. "I'll be around later. Stay safe.", she said and they left to gather their gear from their stateroom.

"So, what was the call?", Hawk asked as they left the Tower. "Not sure what it's about. It seems to be a call to aid some slaves. Anyway I have the coordinates, and it's up North. It's probably going to take a couple days to get there. You know nothing in the wasteland is straightforward."

The trip took most of two days with the usual hold ups to stay alive and check out interesting places. Sally motioned Hawk to be cautious as they approached the tower the broadcast was emanating from. Suddenly yells and curses alerted her to the struggle going on at the base of the tower. She hurried up, still maintaining cover, and surveyed the scene.

Two men, obviously slavers, were subduing a man and attempting to get a slave collar on him. If they succeeded it would be difficult for Sally to safely remove it. She took careful aim with her sniper rifle and dropped the man holding the collar. Hawk burst forward with his mutant berserker yell, distracting the second man, who hardly had time to get off a round before Hawk brought him down.

The slave rose from the ground where he had crouched while the gunfire was going on. He faced the strange duo. "I've heard of you. You're the Partners, aren't you? I'm Werther". Sally raised an eyebrow. "Is that what they're calling us now? Well it's more flattering than some things I've heard us called. Was that you that sent out the distress signal? You're a slave, aren't you? That's why those guys were after you."

"Yeah, that was me. I was a slave in the Pit. I got away from there to get help for us. Those slavers were after me to stop me.", Werther said. "The Pit?", Sally queried. "I haven't heard of that place." The man nodded. "They try to keep it quiet. But haven't you ever wondered why there's so many slavers when you hardly ever see a slave in the wasteland? It's because they take them to the Pit. That place is a nightmare of radiation and sickness. Sometimes kids are born there, but most often people die or go feral, so they have to keep replacing them. The big boss has found a cure but he won't share it with the people. That's why we need help. We need someone from outside, someone strong enough to get the cure and give it to the slaves."

"This sounds extremely dangerous.", Sally said thoughtfully. "I tell you what, you give me all the details. I see you have a camp here, we'll discuss it and I'll think about it. I'll give you my answer in the morning." Werther wasn't happy with this but agreed. They had dinner and discussed the logistics of entering the Pit, which was a city state so completely surrounded by mountains it could only be entered through an old train tunnel.

Sally agreed to take on the challenge. "I'm going to have to prepare for this, and I have some things to take care of. Mark the coordinates of the entrance here on my Pip-boy." She checked the coordinates. "Hmmm, I see that's up here in the north west. Okay, I'll meet you there in, let's see, 2 weeks from tomorrow." Werther said, "All right, I'll try to stay out of sight until then. Just remember what I told you about the camp at the entrance. Those guys don't like visitors." "Stay safe, Werther.", Sally said. "Travel safe.", he responded as the pair hoisted their packs and walked off.

The trip back to Megaton was uneventful for once. They completed their trading and determined what would be needed for the upcoming mission. The Tradewind was due in tomorrow and Sally had no intention of missing her.

Jack smiled when he saw Sally and Hawk waiting on the dock at the Super Duper Mart trading post. She was wearing her favorite light armor with the helmet off. Her red hair blew gently in the light wind. He watched her face light up as she spotted him, waving at her from the rail.

She came on board as soon as they had tied up and lowered the gangplank. He met her at the top, sweeping her into his arms for a sound kiss. They walked back to their room so Sally could take off her pack and change into less constraining clothing. "How's trading been?", she asked, removing her armor. "We're doing okay. I'm having a few problems with cash flow right now, but we'll be all right. How about you? Scavenging been good?".

"Yeah, I've been doing good. Let's have dinner at the Super Duper Mart restaurant tonight, okay?" "Sure.", Jack agreed. "You going over to the post now?", he asked. "Naw, I took care of trading while I was waiting for you to come in. I'll just get a bath while you're gone." He grinned. "I'd like to help you with that, but I have work to do." She laughed as he left.

The meal was better than Sally had expected. Both she and Jack were relaxed and in a good mood. "Jack", she said. "I have something I want to talk to you about. Hawk and I have managed to save quite a few caps lately. We've discussed it and decided we'd like to buy into the Tradewind." Jack considered Sally thoughtfully. "Just what kind of deal are you looking for?", he asked, his eyes beginning to glow with excitement. Sally smiled. Bargaining. It's what they did. This was going to be fun.

The evening had fallen into night before Jack completed his duties and could retire. Sally had gone to their room an hour earlier. She had said she wanted to study some manuals. He pushed open the door and stepped into a room lit only by a single candle burning on a shelf. He turned toward the bed and stopped, staring. Sally was stretched out on her side, her head propped on one hand, dressed only in a short, sexy blue negligee that emphasized every curve of her sleek form, and hid nothing. The candle light flickered in her grey, sultry eyes, beckoning him from beneath a shimmering fall of red gold. The muted glow of the candlelight created a warm sensuous atmosphere.

He grinned, closing the door behind him, unbuttoning his shirt as he approached and sat beside her on the bed. "Have I told you how beautiful you are?", he asked huskily, taking her in his arms. "Not lately. Tell me again.", she smiled, as his hand slid up under the hem of the gown. "Do you like it?", she asked. "Very much.", he murmured, sliding into the bed alongside her.

Sally stood on the deck to watch the sunrise over the shoreline. In spite of a warm coat she shivered slightly in the chill of the early winter morning. She was debating whether to tell Jack about her mission. She didn't like to keep it from him, but she didn't want him worrying the whole time he was gone either. By the time he would have returned in a month the river would be frozen over, so he wasn't returning next month.

From her reading she had gathered that the winters weren't as long or cold as they had been in pre-war times, but her experience told her the river would be at least partially frozen for most of the next 2 months. They had discussed this before and let the traders know he wouldn't be back for 2 months. The ship couldn't sail up a frozen river. They had set a date just 2 months away when he would be at Rivet City. Even if the river was still impassable past that point he could trade off with overland traders there.

The snow fell in light flurries around her, obscuring the rising sun, as she made up her mind. She couldn't worry him for that long, and what if he decided to rescue her? He could be killed. No, she wasn't going to tell him she planned on becoming a slave. She just hoped she could complete the mission and be waiting when he returned. She turned from the grey, dull day and went to have breakfast with her man. She could at least enjoy this trip with him.

Chapter 23

Sally and Hawk stood in front of the door leading into the train tunnel. The warren of tunnels and paths inside would lead far up into the North, into the city state known as the Pitt. Sally could never resist a plea from help from the oppressed. Werther was explaining the plan to her. "The mutant has to stay if you're going to sneak in as a slave. There's nothing like him in there, he'd stand out like a sore thumb and draw attention.", Werther was saying.

"I understand.", Sally agreed. "Well, I don't.", Hawk growled. "I don't like you going in there alone." "Now, Hawk," Sally said reasonably, "you know he's right. I stand a lot better chance alone. Besides, you've got to keep up our business ventures. We don't want our clients to think we're gone, do we? You should spend some time at home to, I bet you're missed." Hawk frowned at her worriedly, but he couldn't argue with her. If he tried she would just dig in until she got her way.

Taking Hawk's silence for consent Sally turned to Werther. "All right then. I'll keep my armor and weapons until I'm past the raiders and into the edge of the city. Before I approach the gate into the Pitt I'll change into a slave outfit and stash everything. You'll try to get it back to me later. I meet up with Medea, and we go from there. Is that it?" "That's it.", Werther agreed. "Good. I didn't bring much with me anyway. Hawk, I'm going to meet you here in 7 weeks from today. If I'm not here, meet up with Jack and tell him I'm on a mission. Give me another 3 weeks. If I'm still not here, get word to the Enclave where I am. They're sure to come after me."

"Whoa, wait a minute. If the Enclave goes in there it'll be a massacre!", Werther said. "Probably", Sally agreed calmly. "But they'll clean the place out. The survivors will have a chance to start over. I have no doubt they'll come for me, so you'd better hope I make it out of there in time. Do you still want me to go in?" "You're our best chance. Do your best not to get killed.", Werther said grimly. He turned and stepped onto the handcart they would use to travel down the tunnel. Sally joined him, turning to nod a goodbye to Hawk as they departed.

The overthrow hadn't taken as long as Sally had feared, partly due to her abilities, but mostly due to luck. Since she had the time before Hawk was due she had helped to organize and clean up the mess. Once she was satisfied with her arrangements with the new government she had turned to her avocation, scavenging. While searching the offices of the former ruler she had found some interesting specs on a product that interested her very much. With the specs in hand she set about negotiating with the new government to try to make the product for her. With just one day left before Hawk was to meet her Sally took what she could carry and left the Pitt.

She stepped from the handcart and made her way to the door leading into the wasteland. She didn't want to risk missing Hawk even though he knew the route she would take home and would look for her if she wasn't at the train yard when he arrived. It had been a difficult two months and she was tired. She had already made a couple trips out of the Pitt to bring out salvage and she wouldn't be able to take it all home by herself. Some of it was very valuable, more than enough to pay the expenses for the trip and still have a good profit.

The sky was dark with no glimmer of moon or stars as she stepped from the door into the wasteland. The heavy cloud cover and sultry air indicated a quickly approaching storm. The former slaver's base in the old boxcar was probably the best bet for spending the remainder of the night, especially as she had left the salvaged items in a locker there.

The storm hit shortly after Sally crawled onto the bed. She slept heavily in spite of the howling wind and rain shaking the old decrepit boxcar. At least it didn't leak and the mattress, if not clean, was fairly comfortable. She woke instantly at the sound of someone outside. The combat shotgun was handy by the bed. When the door opened it was pointed directly at the intruder. "Hey, Sally", Hawk announced his presence.

"Hey Hawk.", Sally greeted him. "How did you know I was here?" "I know your scent, though it could have just been that you had been here. I was checking to make sure." Sally chuckled softly. "Throw a couple of those mattresses on the floor and let's get some sleep."

The next morning broke dull and grey but at least it wasn't raining. Hawk rose early and prepared a warm breakfast. He was a little concerned that he had to rouse Sally who was usually a light sleeper. She refused any breakfast, saying she just wasn't hungry. He noticed she looked paler than usual, but maybe that was because she had just come through a cold winter in a more northern area.

By cutting over the mountain and then staying on the old, broken road past Paradise Falls, they could be home in just over 12 hours if everything went well. Of course it didn't.

Sally set a crisp pace as always. As they walked she told Hawk all about the Pitt and her adventures there. She told him about the slave nation and the battle for freedom, about the filth and disease. But it was the mutagens and radiation that caused the cancers and deformities and created the mutants, mindless and savage creatures that killed on sight and had no memory of any past or family. They also had their own version of raiders as well as wasteland raiders that had made their way in there.

She listened with interest to Hawk describing his stay in the Village and recounting the village gossip for her. Then he went on to talk about his trades and scavenges, adventures and close calls. He had called on the Citadel twice and wouldn't tell the Elder where she was. He hadn't been happy about that. Sally shrugged. It wasn't any of his business.

The day wore on as they enjoyed each other's tales punctuated with an occasional wild animal attack. By late afternoon Sally began to slow down as they approached Paradise Falls. "I must've worn myself out more in there than I thought, Hawk.", she said as they slowed their pace to an easy walk. "Should we stop here and rest?", Hawk asked.

"Yes, I think we should spend the night here. We can't make it home before dark and I'm very tired.", Sally said. "I've forgotten, Hawk,", she said, shivering even though she was wrapped in the thermal blanket and sitting by the fire Hawk had started. It was early spring and though the day had been warm the evening was getting cold rapidly. "When is the Tradewind due in? Tomorrow or the next day?" "They're supposed to be at Rivet City day after tomorrow", Hawk replied. "Are you sure you won't eat something? Or at least have something to drink? A beer? You haven't had anything all day." "No, I feel a little queasy. I took quite a beating fighting in the Arena and during the battle. I guess I haven't recovered as much as I thought. I'll be better by morning, I expect."

Sally wasn't better in the morning. She was even more queasy and her muscles were aching. She still wouldn't eat or drink anything. "I'm fine.", she snapped when Hawk questioned her. "Let's get going. I want to get home as soon as possible."

By the time they reached the church Sally was feeling very tired and sore. Every muscle was aching and her stomach felt even more queasy. Hawk wanted to rest in the church but it was only a 2hr trek to Megaton and Sally didn't want to stop. She had spent enough time in the Pit to know if she was getting ill, it would only get worse.

She became increasingly quiet as the afternoon turned into evening. The trip had already taken hours longer as her pace slowed. They were just over the hill from Megaton when Sally suddenly doubled over and vomited violently. She sank to the ground, shaking and sweating. Hawk helped her out of her pack and pulled out some water. She rinsed her mouth and spit it out. She knew better than to drink any, it would just make her sick again. "Do you want me to carry you?", he asked worriedly. "No, you already have as much as you can carry. I don't want to leave the items you're carrying they're worth too much. Just hide my pack over there in that wrecked house. There's a box in there it should fit in. I'll just rest here for a minute while you do that. Here, I'll just keep my shotgun."

Hawk hurried to take care of stashing the pack so Sally wouldn't be alone long. She wasn't in any shape to defend herself. She was still sitting there when he returned. He helped her to her feet. "You're very hot.", he observed. "Are you sure you can make it? I can drop my pack." "I'll make it.", she said grimly, trudging forward holding the shotgun with some difficulty.

"Hawk.", she struggled to talk and breathe. "Listen, I told you about the mutants. I wasn't in there that long, maybe this is just an illness, but maybe it's not. If I change, if I become one of those things, I want it to be you that takes me out. You'll do that for me, won't you? I don't want to be like that." "Don't try to talk, Sally.", he said, watching her trying to catch her breath. "We're almost home. You know I'll take care of you, don't you? Don't worry, I'll do whatever I have to."

The trader watched them come slowly down the hill, Hawk supporting the ill, stumbling woman. She was red and sweating with fever, obviously very ill. The trader moved back away from their path. It could be flu and that could be highly contagious and deadly. He watched them go into the town, then moved on. He wanted to be at Rivet City the next day to catch the Tradewind. He always got good trades from them.

"Her fever's very high and she's dehydrated.", Doc Church said. "How long has she been throwing up?" "About four hours.", Hawk responded. " Is she eating or drinking anything?" "Not for the last two days. She says she wasn't hungry and now she can't hold anything down. We barely made it here, she's so weak." The doctor looked at him in amazement. "I should think so. I'm surprised she could walk at all. We need to bring the fever down and get her hydrated. I'm just going to hang these saline bags and give her a shot to bring down her temperature. I don't know what she has, it could be a flu, could be something else. Do you know what she was exposed to?"

"You mean other than vast amounts of radiation and toxins in a poisonous atmosphere that turns humans into ravenous, mindless, viscous killers? No idea.", Hawk said sourly. The doctor stared at him. "Where the hell has she been?", he demanded. "No place you'd ever want to go. They needed her help, she went. Can you help her?", Hawk asked. Doc Church shook his head. "I'm not a miracle worker. This will help her, but there's not much else I can do. I'll give her an antibiotic, but I don't know if it'll help. I've given her all the fever reducer I can. If her temp doesn't come down try washing her down with cold water." "Okay, thanks doc.", Hawk said.

He paid Doc and saw him out, then went to refrigerate some radiated water. He had noticed on her Pip-boy that her radiation level was near zero. He would have to bring it up as well as cool her down. He was the only person who knew her secret. Even her lover Jack didn't know. He paused, frowning. The Tradewind was due to dock at Rivet City tomorrow.

Jack disembarked from the Tradewind and approached Doc Hoff. The trader was waiting by the ramp into Rivet City as always. "Hey, Jack.", Doc said. "The restaurant at the Tower wants some fresh fruit. Got any for me? I've a good supply of meds today." " Sure thing.", Jack responded.

After completing their bargaining Doc said,"By the way, you know Sally Weston, don't you? I'm sure I've seen her on your boat a few times." "Yeah, she's my woman.", Jack smiled. "Have you seen her? I thought she might be meeting me here." "I don't think she's going to be here. I saw Hawk helping her into Megaton yesterday and she looked real sick. Flu, maybe."

Jack's smile disappeared. "How sick did she look?", he asked anxiously. "Hawk was helping her walk. It takes a lot to get Sally down, so I'd guess she was really bad." "Thanks.", Jack said, pocketing the caps Doc had handed him with the meds and motioning to Aaron to bring down 2 crates of fruit.

Jack hurried back to his cabin on the Tradewind and prepared a pack. It was already late afternoon. He studied the map Sally had made for him of the wasteland. If he hurried he could make Megaton by morning. He had run the Baton Rouge wasteland since he was a kid, the DC wasteland couldn't be that much different.

He stopped Aaron to tell him what he was doing and instruct him to continue with the schedule. Spring had come quickly and there was little ice left on the Potomac. Aaron was good, he could handle the trading as well as the crew. He would let the crew know where Jack had gone and why. He consulted his GPS, set his destination, took up his shotgun and pack and headed off toward Megaton.

When Jack spotted the robot in front of the junk city he was sure he was in the right place. It had taken him longer to get here than he had hoped. After running into raiders, scorpions and the odd super mutant he had stopped at Tenpenny Tower for the remainder of the night. He had been prepared to pay but when old Mr. Tennpenny heard he was there he requested to meet him. The old man had been curious to meet Sally's Captain Jack.

After a brief conversation he had been shown to Sally's suite. Jack had been impressed with the amenities. Although there were a few weapons in a locker and the closet contained various outfits, Jack got the impression that Sally didn't stay here much. He left early the next morning after a hearty breakfast with old Mr. Tennpenny.

After entering the gate into Megaton he took a moment to stare at the bomb sitting in the middle of the town, just as Sally had said. He hurried down to the small outdoor café to ask directions to her house. Jenny stared after him as he headed up the path. Wow! So that was Sally's captain.

Hawk opened the door to find Jack standing outside. He stepped back, motioning him in. "Hey, Jack.", he said softly. "Hey, Hawk. How is she?", Jack asked without preamble. "See for yourself.", Hawk replied, leading the way up a set of stairs to a small room. He didn't seem surprised to see the Captain.

This was definitely Sally's bedroom. Weapons of every description hung in neat rows on the walls. Raider's masks decorated any bare areas on the walls. An entire shelf was taken up with hats that Jack recognized as belonging to Enclave leaders. Odd helmets, weapons and items were neatly displayed on a desk, along with a large ledger and pencils. A large stack of teddy bears under the desk seemed oddly out of place. Jack took the room in at a glance, but his attention was riveted on the still figure.

Sally was sound asleep. Jack felt her forehead, pushing back the now dull red hair. She felt dry and hot to his touch. He took in the saline drip going into her arm and the pot of water and cloth sitting on the desk, the empty pot beside her bed. She was covered with a light blanket even though she felt like she was burning up to Jack. Hawk wrung out the cloth and handed it to Jack. He glanced briefly at Hawk and took the cloth, wiping Sally's face. She was drawn and pale, and seemed to have shrunk in on herself.

"How long has she been like this?", he asked. "About 3 days. Doc's been dropping in and keeping an eye on her but there's not much we can do except try to keep her fever down and keep her hydrated. It could be flu, Jack." Hawk said the dreaded word.

Sally stirred, opening her eyes, focusing on the man sitting beside her. "Jack", she croaked. "What are you doing here? Go away, you could get sick." Suddenly she sat up, leaned over and puked into the empty pot. Jack held her head until she finished and lay back down, gasping for breath. He wiped her face and then propped her head up, holding a bottle of water to her lips.

"Just take a small sip to clear your mouth, hon.", he said. "Please go away.", she whispered. "I'm not going anywhere. Go back to sleep.", he said gently. Sally's eyes closed, her breath coming in ragged gasps. Hawk took the pan to clean it.

Jack looked up when Hawk returned. "Why didn't you send for me?", he asked the big mutant. Hawk shrugged. "I didn't think I needed to. I saw Doc Hoff and knew he was going to be headed for the Tradewind. I did go back out after I got Sally in bed to tell him to let you know but he was already gone. I figured he'd be happy to pass on what he saw anyway." Jack nodded. That did make sense.

The fever broke during the night. By the morning Sally was breathing much easier. She opened her eyes and stretched. She saw Jack sitting in a chair by her bed. He was sleeping. He looked exhausted. She felt a wave of emotion wash over her. He had come to take care of her, leaving his ship behind! She started to get up and noticed the IV in her arm. "Here, let me get that for you." Jack's voice made her look up.

"Jack, why did you come? What if you get sick? Where's Hawk?", she asked, looking around him at the doorway. "He's sleeping. He was up for three days looking after you until your fever went down last night. I convinced him I could watch over you then. Wouldn't you come if I was sick?", he responded as he removed the IV.

Sally didn't deny this. "Yes, but you know you can't go back to the ship for at least 2 more days, right? If I had the flu and you get it, you can't risk spreading it to your crew or other towns. A lot of people die from flu." "I know. I wasn't planning on it. Do you feel like eating something now?"

"I feel like getting dressed.", she replied. "I seem to be naked." "Yeah, we had to keep washing you down. You're fever was really high. Here, you want this vault uniform?" "Thanks.", Sally said, putting on the uniform. "I could use some something light, I think. I don't seem to be too thirsty but I wouldn't mind some water with breakfast." "Just rest, hon, I'll go fix you something.", Jack said. "And I'll fix you a nice warm bath while you eat."

The day was sunny and warm and later on Sally sat outside for a while at the small table on her patio. Jack had agreed to spend that day and the next with them. If he still felt well he would then go to Rivet City where Aaron would wait for him. Many of the townspeople came around to see how she was and to meet her man. They were naturally curious about the ship's Captain that had captured their Sally. Jack spent the next two nights in her bed, then it was time for him to go. After breakfast he kissed her goodbye. "I'll see you next month, won't I?", he asked hopefully. "You bet. Maybe I'll be up to more than sleeping.", she teased. "That would be nice.", he murmured. He took a bottle of purified water to give to Micky on the way out.

Sally went to see Moira after Jack had left. She was much better, feeling almost her old self. "Hey, Moira, I have something to ask you.", Sally said. "What can I do for you? You wouldn't want me to take that captain off your hands, would you?", Moira teased. Sally laughed. "Not likely. He's all mine. Actually, I want you to sequence my DNA again." "Whatever for?", Moira asked, surprised. Sally said, "I know you've kept records. You have copies of my sequence when I first came out of the vault and then again after I did that experiment for you. You asked me for a sample after I took that fire med from the fire ant scientist and I bet you sequenced it then too. I want to know if there's been any further changes. I'd like to have a copy for myself as well. I'll pay you, of course. How much would you ask?"

Moira considered. "I think I can do it for 100 caps.", she said. Sally agreed, holding out her hand for the swab to take a sample of her cells. The test only took a short while. Moira handed her the copy. Sally paid her and left without any further comments.

"We need to get back to work.", Sally said. Hawk agreed. They left the next morning to start their rounds, scavenging as they went. By the time they got to the Settlement they were loaded with goods and extra weapons. Hawk was delighted that Halnet had got a human size bed and had it put in a spare room along with a dresser and other amenities for Sally.

One of the men had crafted them for her from the dead trees lining the village. He was a very good wood worker and Sally much admired his craftsmanship. One of the women crafted wonderful baskets the Partners took with them in trade. They sold well in Tennpenny and Baton Rouge.

By the time they worked their way down to the hidden cave in the south they had traded for or bought a lot of the supplies they wanted to leave there. It was becoming well stocked with weapons, ammo, food, cleaning supplies and meds. With a good deal of effort Hawk even hauled in a mattress for Sally and a super mutant size one for himself he had taken from a mutant camp they had cleared out. Once they were cleaned and made up with blankets and pillows they were very comfortable. Since the cavern always stayed a little on the cool side Sally was glad for the small heater they had managed to haul up the path and lower into the cave. It was still a struggle to get large items down the rope ladder.

Between the trading rounds, the scavenging, and working on the southern cave the three weeks went by quickly. They stopped at the Memorial to visit with Madison before going to Rivet City to catch the Tradewind.

Madison looked up from her work as Sally and Hawk strode into the room. Sally was dressed in her favorite Reilly's armor. With Hawk in his worn leather they looked like a pair of warriors to Madison. "Hey, Sally, Hawk.", she greeted them. "I heard you were sick, Sally. How are you feeling now?" "I'm good. I had the flu. I had to stay at home for a week to keep from spreading it around.", Sally replied. "Yeah, that's good. You're young and strong but a lot of people die from the flu. You're looking good now. Say, I have some news. The Project is almost complete. We've done about all we can. If we can just get our hands on a GECK I think we can activate it. It'll need some testing with the GECK in place but I think it should work."

"The last I heard of it Colonel Autumn had it. I haven't heard much from them in the last few years, except when I come across a field camp. Does anyone know where he's at or what he's up to?", Sally asked. "I heard the Elder has a lead on it. Anyway there seems to be some kind of stir among the Brotherhood. He was asking about you." "Well, I'll be stopping in there in a few days. I'll see what he wants." "Sure, fine.", Madison said, then grinned. "Now tell me how Captain Jack's doing."

The partners stayed at Rivet City and went out onto the platform as dawn was breaking. After watching the sunrise and presenting Willie the beggar with his bottle of purified water they went in to breakfast. Sally went back out mid morning to watch for the ship to come in. She was standing down by the water when the ship tied up. Jack met her at the top of the gangplank.

The next three months went well. Trading was good for the Tradewind and business was brisk. They were beginning to make a tidy profit. Sally, and sometimes Hawk, caught the Tradewind at Rivet City, rode the entire round with Jack, and disembarked when he left for the Island and Baton Rouge. Each time he asked her to come with him, but there was always something she needed to do in the wasteland. The fall was coming upon them and Sally was facing the winter, with the prospect she wouldn't see Jack for two months.

"I don't want to be separated for that long, Jack.", Sally said, lying in his arms the last night before they would dock at Rivet City. "Then stay with me now. You'll like the sea, I know you would.", he said softly. "You know I can't right now. I've got a job I have to complete out in the wasteland. But I'm going to try not to take on any more so I can come with you next trip. We'd be together for two months. Two whole months! Wouldn't that be great.", she said.

Jack kissed Sally goodbye early the next morning at the Rivet City dock. He watched her go off into the wasteland with Hawk, looking back to wave and smile at him before she went out of sight.

Then Sally discovered the force field. The Memorial was surrounded. What was this? She quickly headed for the Citadel to find out what was going on.

Elder Lyons was having a discussion with Sarah when she came in. Sarah wanted to attack right away, but the Elder was afraid they didn't have enough resources. "Sally", Elder Lyons said. "Do you have any information about the Enclave? They've taken over the Project and erected that force field." "The Enclave has control of the Project? This is really bad. I told you the Colonel took the GECK off me when he captured me. What if they try to activate it? Madison told me it just needed the GECK! They don't have the code at least that's something."

The Elder addressed Sarah. "It won't take them long to figure it out. We have to go in right away. Mobilize your forces Sarah, and take Sally with you. She's the only one that knows the code. Rothschild, is the robot ready?" "It isn't fully functional but it should work well enough. I'll get it ready." he said and went off to get started.

Sally was once again running with the Pride, this time as a member of the Brotherhood. She walked with them toward the gate, watching the giant robot swinging overhead on the high crane to be deposited outside the gate.

The gate swung open and the Pride stepped out and headed for the Memorial. The gigantic robot came to life and strode forward, following its programming to destroy the red army. In its programming the Enclave had become the Chinese invaders. Bombs and laser fire slammed around them as they fought their way across the bridge, the robot breaching the barriers and taking out the opposition. Soldiers fell. The Pride pushed forward.

Finally the Memorial was taken. Sarah and Sally fought their way to the Rotunda where Colonel Autumn turned to confront them, handgun at the ready. "So, it's you.", he said. "I always knew it would be you. This where it ends." "It doesn't have to be this way, Colonel.", Sally said. "You've lost. We've retaken the memorial and now we have the GECK. What's left of your forces are in disarray. Let it go. Just walk away." "You'd do that? Just let me go? How do I know you won't shoot me in the back? I guess it doesn't matter now, anyway, does it? I'd never make it out of here alive. All right, I'll go. I'm done. You'll never hear from me again."

Sarah watched the Colonel walked away. Sally had given her word, so she sent out over her radio that the man was to be given safe passage. Sarah looked back at Sally. "I would've thought the wasteland would have beaten that out of you by now. I hope this doesn't come back to bite you." Before Sally could reply an urgent voice issued from the speaker by the control room door. "Sarah, this is Dr. Li. The Project's been damaged. I don't know if it was done during the battle or on purpose, but it has to be activated now. Pressure's building! If it isn't activated the whole place is going to blow."

Sarah looked at Sally and Hawk. They were the only three people in the rotunda. "One of us has to go in there. It's never been cleared of the radiation so it's a death sentence to anyone who walks in there. So how should we do this? Draw straws?"

"I'll do it", Sally said grimly. "Let me do this, Sally. I'm more resistant than you are.", Hawk rejoined. "Hawk, I know what you're capable of but this is for me to do, you can't take it away from me. I have to do it. Besides, I'm as resistant as you are, you know that." "Wait." Hawk slung off his pack and dug out Sally's radiation suit. "At least wear this."

Sally nodded. She smiled crookedly at the ugly face, briefly touching his hand as she took the suit. She slipped into it and tightened it about her, turning her back on him. The control panel was just behind her. "Sarah, you're going to have to cycle the door after I go in. Make sure to do it quick." Hawk said, "Sally, the Tradewind's just downstream. We don't know what's going to happen."

"I know. Hawk, tell Jack….", she hesitated. She stared into the room. "Just tell him I'm sorry.", she said and activated the control panel. She hurried into the room and quickly typed in the activation code even as the door locked behind her.

The explosion shook the DC area as waves of energy pulsed out through the water, the air. The slender form lay prone in the control room. Outside the control room unmoving bodies were strewn on the landing and stairwell. Downriver the Tradewind rocked in the blast, her occupants bathed in the aftermath of the energy wave, her sides slammed by the wave of water pushed by the blast.

Jack pushed himself off the deck . His men were scattered about, rising from the deck, looking around. "What happened?", Mike asked. Jack shook his head. "There was some kind of explosion. I've never seen anything like it. A wave hit the side of the Tradewind, we're lucky she didn't swamp. Is everyone all right?" Bill was sitting up, holding his head. Aaron looked up from where he was bending over Carl. "Ya, he's coming around." Jack nodded. "Good. I'm going down below to check on Dawson and Fred and the cargo, you guys take stock up here. And keep a good eye out, there's bound to be some bandits around looking to take advantage of a crippled ship."

Jack staggered toward the stairs, still dizzy and disoriented. He was sure his men were in much the same condition. They needed to get out of here, get to sea before someone figured out they weren't at top condition. He was just glad Sally had gone into the wasteland. She should be safe.

The sails were down, which was good as no one was in condition to handle them. He staggered to the control room and set the auto pilot to take them from the river. The small nuclear engines hummed with power as the ship picked up speed and headed for the ocean.

The brotherhood doctor checked Sally's vitals again. She had been brought in with the commander's daughter and the big mutant. Everyone else at the center of the blast had been dead on site. He wondered how these had managed to survive. The mutant had regained consciousness after 6 days, but the women were still unresponsive. Other than the occupants of a ship that had been downriver, just below the facility, the soldiers hadn't been able to find any others that had been exposed to the blast that were still alive. The ship had sailed toward the sea. They didn't have the manpower to spare to go after them to find out if they had been affected or were even still alive.

The doctor had been unsure how to treat them as nothing like this had ever happened before. When they were brought in their temperatures, heart and breathing rates had been greatly accelerated, which had alarmed him, and their radiation levels near fatal from the exposure. But the rates had quickly dropped along with their radiation. He had been pleased at first, until they had continued going down. Soon they would be dead.

Since there was now plenty of clean water he had been using it to bathe the victims to bring down the fevers, but had run short in the room. Since he didn't think it would make any difference he took a handy bottle of irradiated water and used it to bathe Sally, whose fever was highest. Her heart rate and breathing almost immediately jumped, but then dipped again. He checked her gauge. No radiation level. How could that be? He grabbed more of the water and poured it over her, continuing to pour bottle after bottle and watching the cycle repeat itself.

He quickly called in aides to help and set them to pouring irradiated water over all the victims. They began to respond as well. It wasn't enough. He grabbed some IV bags and took them to be irradiated. He would begin infusion at once and keep their levels as close to fatal as he dared. It was all he could think of to do. Obviously they were mutating, he just didn't know into what.

Sally stirred, half waking. She was dreaming. _David was sitting on the grass beside her, the picnic spread out around them. The city gleamed in the distance, the big spires of glass catching the afternoon sun. "Don't go", she begged him, trying to hold onto his hand. He was a big man, his black hair cut in a short buzz, his uniform enhancing his strong form. He smiled at her and bent to give her a kiss. "I have to,", he said. "It's in my orders. Don't worry, love, I'll be back in a few months." "No, David, don't go. Please don't go," she cried, tears streaming down her face as she watched him walk off into the mushroom cloud sprouting from the distant city. _

Sally jerked awake. She peered around at her surroundings. She recognized the Citadel clinic and the young doctor bending over her. "What happened?", she asked dazedly. "What am I doing here? Where's Hawk?". She tried to sit up, to look for him. "I'm here", the deep familiar voice said. Sally sighed, relaxing back, her eyes focusing on the big mutant. "You're all right?", she asked. "What about the others? The Project?"

Sally stared at their silent faces. "The others? Did anyone else survive?" The doctor shook his head at Hawk, who ignored him. Sally always deserved the truth. "No one else in there survived, Sally, just you, me and Sarah, and she's still out.", he said inclining his head to his right. Sally looked over at where Sarah Lyon lay quiet and still on the next bed.

"And the Tradewind?", she asked hopefully. "Was it affected?" "No one knows. It kept on going, straight out to sea. Scouts were sent to the Island to see if she stopped there, but she didn't. Witnesses said she moved on past, just on her engines like maybe she was on auto. No one spotted anyone moving on board, but that doesn't mean anything. They were pretty far out and they couldn't really tell." Sally didn't to reply to this. "What about Madison? She wasn't in the memorial, was she? Is she all right?". Hawk and the doctor looked at each other.

Hawk said, "Madison's gone, Sally. She left shortly after we activated the Project. She said she couldn't stay here anymore and was going to go to the Commonwealth to look for work." Sally looked at him. "She didn't even come visit me, did she?", she asked. "No.", Hawk said sadly. "Yeah, she never really liked me much.", she said.

"You should stay here for a while, Sally," Dr. Bening said. "We need to run some tests on you." Sally ignored him, looking back at Hawk. "You need to get some sleep, partner,", she said. "And take a shower, would you? You look like shit." Hawk grinned, not a pretty sight on his face. "Yeah, I'm gonna get a good night's sleep now, you're ok. I'll see you in the morning.", and he left. watched him go then turned back to Sally. Before he could say anything she said, "I'm very tired now. I think I'll get some sleep too." And she turned her back to him and the silent Sarah.

Dr. Bening reviewed the tapes of Sally's recovery. She had been unconscious for nearly 2 weeks. She had cried out before awakening. Who was David, he wondered? None of them evinced any other signs of mutation than the weird healing process, which Sarah was still undergoing. At least she hadn't died yet.

Sally slid into her armor, picked up her pack and left the Citadel early. Hawk was beside her, dressed in the fine armor they had purchased, his pack laden with the medical supplies and weapons she deemed necessary, and the books he was never without. She had spent three days in the Citadel, letting the doctor prod and pry at her, ask questions. He had recording equipment in the surgery and now had it in the recovery rooms as well, as he had decided to document the unique experience. She agreed to being recorded, and Hawk did as well.

She was told the project was working, which should have been some consolation, but it didn't feel that way to her. Sarah still hadn't regained consciousness, and her father was dead because of that project. She had never known her mother because of this project. Her lover and all her friends among the crew of the Tradewind were missing and probably dead. How much more should she sacrifice for the wasteland? She didn't cry. She felt too cold to cry.

She didn't look at the dome of the Jefferson memorial as they crossed the river to head south. She had paid a high price to bring clean water to the wasteland. Now, full of pain and grief, the wasteland beckoned. Hawk didn't ask Sally what their goal was, he just stayed by her side. He knew the months ahead would be rough but he would never leave her. He would never let her go on alone.

The end


End file.
